The TV Set

I really wanted to like this movie. The director/writer (Jake Kasdan) and cast (David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffud, and Fran Kranz) have all done work that I've enjoyed in the past, and the premise of showing the absurdity of the Hollywood television production process should have been incredibly fertile comedic territory. Unfortunately the film's tonal inconsistency end up killing any comic momentum it generates and, at times, make the already lean running time drag considerably. The story veers back and forth from trying to show how the entertainment industry can destroy your creativity and personal life, and just being a straight up parody of the hollywood. As is so often the case when a film can't decide what it is, the two tones end up cancelling each other out and, in the case of The TV Set, the film ends up being just as broad as the target of its satire. The other big problem is that the TV show being produced isn't that good, even before network interference 'ruins' the writer's creative vision, and as a result its tough to get too indignant when things start going off the rail. I realize that the film may be doing some kind of meta-commentary, and I'm just too dumb to appreciate it, but whatever. I don't have time to think about it anymore, and there's still allot of stack to work through.