Suburban Roulette

You know you're in for a treat as soon as the montage of split-levels and a faux-Sammy Davis Jr. theme song ("Let's swap partners/Here's the game/Suburban roulette") hit the screen. This touching family drama opens with the Fisher family moving to a new suburban home, in hopes that the change of scenery will do them good--or, as Mr. Fisher tells Mrs. Fisher, "No more booze for me and no more boyfriends for you!"

As you can imagine, that doesn't last long once the Fishers fall in with their neighbors, the Elstons and the Conleys. The Elstons are the real fun couple in the subdivision: disdainful tramp "Mattress Back" Margo and her husband, leering blond stud Ron. Martini-fueled pool parties abound, as Ron embarks on an affair with the Jiffy Pop-haired Mrs. Fisher and Mr. Fisher sweats a lot and passes the time getting wasted with self-hating lush Fran Conley. Mrs. Conley resembles Judy Garland in full suburban housewife drag, which may be why the Conley's eldest son is already a vicious little queen at age 12. Meanwhile, Mattress-Back Margo looks bored and humps anything who comes within a three-foot radius since, as she repeatedly points out, her "pendulum" swings both ways. It doesn't take long for the Elstons to break out with the toy roulette wheel and begin spouse-swapping in earnest. There's bullet bras, there's ugly bedspreads, there's a fistfight under the sprinklers, there's too much other trash to list here. A fine, fine film.