| SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS |
 2001
- USA
Director: Daniel
Minahan - Reviewed by Linda
Six "contestants" are chosen by lottery from one random American town (which will be the setting for the "game"). An Ed McMahon-type shows up at their front door with a cameraman, rings the bell, and... surprise! Guess what! Your teenage daughter has been selected as player in the next series of the hit show The Contenders! It doesn't matter if they are young, old, single, or have a family... if you choose not to play, that just makes it easier for the others to beat you. The only rule of the game: there is only one survivor, and that is the only way to "win". The survivor then wins the right to go on to the next series. If they obliterate all their opponents for something like 5 or 6 rounds, they get to quit the game and stay alive. Gosh, thanks. The reigning champion is Dawn (Brooke Smith), a merciless pregnant woman on the verge of going into labor (great tension for TV!). She is one win away from freedom if she can stay alive for one more series. Problem is, one of the other contestants turns out to be her ex-boyfriend from high school, Jeffrey (Glenn Fitzgerald), a man now dying of cancer. Will their love be re-ignited (as they flash back to a hilarious goth video of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that they made when they were young and in love)? Will one sacrifice themselves for the other to win? The filming style of Series 7 is completely faithful to the genre it spoofs, from shaky cameras, to on-camera confessions, to the booming announcer voice telling about "a very special episode" coming up next time. Now that is all good and fine, and the film is funny... But I dare say the target of reality shows is almost too easy. There is not really a point to Series 7, other than some easy laughs. Not that there is a point to shows like Survivor... but, um, Survivor is equally, if not more entertaining, and people don't even get shot in the head on that show. Geez, I'm jaded. |
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In
a way, the idea behind Series 7: The Contenders is quite clever. It is a
dead-on spoof of reality TV shows that are swamping the airwaves right now, but
takes the challenge one step further: the players play to the death.