The Simpsons go out to see a movie only for Homer to fly into a rage when the film is repeatedly delayed by previews and filler. He is chased out by ushers and collides mouth-first into the fist of a solid gold Drederick Tatum statue. With his jaw damaged, Homer is fitted with a head brace that prevents him from talking. During this time, he finds that he bonds better with the family by listening to their problems, like taking silent pleasure in that even Marge finds Flanders annoying. He seems to completely change into a new man even after the brace has been removed, but Marge begins to miss his wild and reckless self. In an attempt to "scratch her itch", Marge enters a demolition derby to get excitement into her life but instantly regrets it when she's almost injured in the process. Thankfully, Homer manages to save her from the wreckage that follows and the couple reconcile.
This episode contains examples of:
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A masked driver in the demolition derby absolutely trashes every car, including Marge's, without ever getting hit. It gets ridiculous as said vehicle is still shown beating the already wrecked cars in "beating a dead horse" fashion.
- Edible Bludgeon: When Homer causes a ruckus at the theater, the Squeaky-Voiced Teen and his fellow ushers threaten and pursue Homer wielding "movie-sized" Kit Kat bar pieces.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Homer's line, "Quit banging my wife!"
- The scene in Soccer Mummy where the mummy gets a boner after seeing a woman's bouncing breasts during a game.
- Heel Realization: Parodied in a scene where Bart talks with head-braced Homer and expresses his disgust with the realization that he's a trouble-making class clown.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: "Flight of the Bumblebee" plays when Maggie's pacifier gets stuck in the wiring of Homer's head brace and he swings her around, attempting to get her off.
- The Quiet One: Homer while in the brace which prevents him from talking, aside from a few instances where he groans understandable words like "Broken jaw?!" through his teeth. In a way, it's subverted in that we hear his thoughts.
- Suicide As Comedy: Apparently, Dr. Hibbert has a suicide machine (a wooden chair with syringes fixed to it) which Homer tries to use once fitted with the brace but apparently it only causes "sexual release" for a man Homer's size.
- Take That: One of the reasons the film they intended to see at the beginning of the episode is rated PG-13 is due to brief rudeness and scenes featuring Garry Shandling.
- Ed O'Neill being the star of a crummy kids' movie is a burn against him starring in Dutch and a burn against Ed O'Neill trying to find another acting job after Married... with Children's cancellation (which was hard for O'Neill to do since everyone recognized him as Al Bundy, the loser shoe salesman married to a lazy, redheaded nag. It wouldn't be until Modern Family years later that the association would slowly wear off).
- We Want Our Jerk Back: Marge can't stand mild-mannered Homer.
