expatinasia

The only saving grace is the great soundtrack. It's a lot of fun, even if some of the songs were not released in the 1965 framework of the movie. George Lucas should have sued these guys for ripping off "American Graffiti". The move even has a third-rate DJ sitting in for Wolfman Jack. Fortunately, after spending $10M to film it, the movie grossed less than $200K. Hopefully, the director and producer never got involved in the film industry again. Many of the cast have had long and distinguished careers on TV and in movies. This early attempt has them over-acting and chewing scenery. Lots of yelling and screaming filling in for real emotions. Fortunately, this stinker of a movie did not affect their careers.

I disliked this movie intensely. I love Emma Thompson but, unfortunately, this celluloid suppository had her screen time edited to only a couple minutes. Two guys walk the Appalachian trail, sort of. Frankly, the last time I read about the Trail was when a conservative Congressman told his family he was hiking the train, when he was actually in South America cheating on his wife. That story is a lot better than this story. The Director and DP took a lot of obvious shortcuts. In one scene, our protagonists are on a dam. The electrical grid, below the dam, can be seen clearly. The time line advances a month, and the guys are now at the electrical grid. The audience is expected to accept that it's a new set. Talk about the willing suspension of disbelief. The cinematic shortcut of turning the camera 180 degrees, shooting another scene, and claiming that it's another time and another place is done frequently. I saw the movie only because a friend's mother recommended it. Beware of "cute" movies recommended by a senior citizen.

Similar to other confrontation shows (Jerry Springer, Bill Cunningham), the show is entirely scripted, and is a hoax. While working as the "Director of Security" for Jerry Springer, he was introduced as a Chicago police officer. He oversaw wild brawls, and never made an attempt to stop the altercation. Even back then, people wondered: "If he's a real police officer, and the brawl is real, why doesn't he intercede?" Exactly. Now, he has his own show, of bumbling, clumsy "actors", and outrageous plots and complaints. If any of this was real, state officials would arrest these people for prostitution, murder, assault, illicit drug sales, rape, and child endangerment. Watching this nonsense you're reminded that, no matter how bad your life is, you don't accept minimum wage to make an a$$ of yourself on TV.