Murry Wilson's Opus
Pan of the week is to avoid seeing the film "Fido", which is having limited release here in town. Fido, made with Canadian taxpayer money, is about domesticated zombies in a 50's-era neighborhood. Sounds interesting enough on paper, yes? However, like most contemporary films portraying life in the 50's, what comes across on the screen amounts to a zealous art director's showcase of retro-kitsch sets, costumes, and cars, while the script is nothing more than an afterthought. It's the stock portrayal of repressed families in neatly manicured neighborhoods living blithely in the atomic age, bla-bla-bla. That kind of smug treatment always drives me totally crazy, perhaps because I'm just such a huge Hugh Beaumont fan.
Beaumont in non-repressed reposeMight as well go rent the 1989 flick: "Parents" with Randy Quaid, which is a superior close-cousin in theme, although it too had more potential than it lived up to.
Pun of the week: Did'ya hear'bout the fire down at the circus? -Yeah, it was in tents! Ha-ha-ha.
Finally, if anyone can find my missing underwear, please let me know.
Thanks.
6 comments:
Holy Cow! I won't pick any more movies. Sorry you hated it that much. Canada sends its regrets.
It's all good.
Good times.
I forgot to mention how exquisite the nice popcorn and the hot-buttered company was...
Jeez! Now I know why Brian Wilson snapped.
Thanks for the warning re. Fido. I wouldn't be caught dead watching a zombie movie anyway (hyuk hyuk).
You left your undies on the bottom shelf of the fridge again (behind the Laughing Cow cheese and tubs of slaw).
Just a little hard on the beaver last night.........
Golly!
Lucky fer me, it aint too late t get a piece o Barbara Billingsley.
Just when you thought there was no way to spin a fresh zombie story, along comes Fido. Set in a Canadian suburb during the 1950s, the movie boasts a delicious premise: What if humans were the victors in a zombie war, and now the living dead – fit with dog collars to zap their cannibal instincts – were turned into domestic slaves? Hey, zombie, mow that lawn. Housewife Helen, played with inspired silliness by Matrix diva Carrie-Anne Moss, persuades her wimp hubby (Dylan Baker) to get the family its own rotting corpse. Lonely son Timmy (K’Sun Ray) calls his new pal Fido. As played by Scottish comic Billy Connolly, Fido is a good doggie until he gets his collar off. Then, oh boy! Director Andrew Currie is better at laughs than scares, but he can’t sustain either as Fido runs out of steam in the final stretch. Till then, it’s fiendish fun.
PETER TRAVERS
(Posted: Jun 13, 2007)
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