Shock Treatment
Our film begins by introducing the magical town of Dentonville, which has been turned into a giant TV studio. Think The Truman Show, but you are all stuck in a giant room watching him. Our two heroes- Brad and Janet- are on a show that gives out marriage advice because they are having problems. Their key problem: the other is not the one they married. I meant that literally, as Brad is played by Cliff De Young and Janet is played by Jessica Harper. I should note that, for a person who does not care for musicals, this is the second one I have seen with Jessica in it now! Anyhow, their appearance is popular with the audience/town residents, Janet getting the 'lion's share' of it. The high point of this whole affair is the crazy host (Barry Humphries, of Dame Edna fame) who reminds me a lot of the commentary guy from Deathrace 2000. He is weird, wacky and supposedly-blind. When it becomes clear that Brad is not that popular, it is decided that he be sent to Dentonvale, a mental hospital in the studio run by two clearly-insane people (O'Brien and Patricia Quinn). They sing about how Janet will be a star, which she embraces way too quickly. So long, Brad, I'm off to sing and dance!
*
So Brad is dumped into a straight-jacket while Janet gets all dressed up. It is actually a bit reminiscent of how she became a star while The Phantom lingered around sadly in The Phantom of the Paradise. How did that became a cliche so quickly? Anyhow, she embraces the whole thing with open arms, while her husband suffers in silence...thanks to being gagged. They set her up to be the star of the show. One thing I have to note about Harper is her voice. I like it, but it is very deep! At times, she makes Melissa Ethridge sound like a falsetto. The only source of hope is an older producer who does not like to see what is happening to such a naive young woman. I wonder his plans are to help her? Let me guess, they involve singing right?
*
Yes, yes they do. To be honest, I had a hard time following the film from this point on. Because of the musical conventions, the film's plot just stops for minutes at a time. Mind you, I have barely any tacit connection to that plot as it is. The gist of it is that Brad gets broken loose, Janet realizes her mistake and they stand up to the boss. We learn that the whole thing was a plot to get Janet for himself, since he is the twin brother of Brad. They try to get the help of the town's people, but their will is far too gone already. They are condemned to prison, but manage to ride out in a car during a musical number. Um, hurray? The End.*
Yeah, I was not a fan of the movie. It is clear that they had this whole idea, but needed to build a million nonsensical songs into it. The quality of lyrics and the tunes themselves are not all that great, even the title track. In fairness, the movie does have some interesting subtleties and themes to it. For example, the studio head is also played by Cliff De Young. The film is all about skewering the idea of people getting sudden celebrity, an idea that would be used about 18 years later in the flop Ed TV. It is a very insightful look at the whole 'reality show' idea, even if it did not exist then. It is an interesting look back on what people can do when they are very creative, but don't quite have enough of a filter for themselves. If you want a better example, see Mars Attacks. Given my distaste for both Rocky Horror and musicals, I can fully understand if you are completely of the opposite opinion of me though.
*
Next up, the man who brought us Audition brings us a film about...a guy who wants to be a superhero. There has to be a catch here. Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment