lars-63669

This is the worse thing on TV -- yes worse than "Making History." Okay it is an anthropomorphized dog who speaks thoughts to the audience. This gimmick goes back to "The People's Choice," the difference being that Cleo was arch and witty whereas this dog is every bad thing ever said about the millennial mindset without being amusingly satirical about it. Who can possible write stuff so dull without passing out over their keyboard? And no, the human cast is no brighter. Perhaps ABC wants to kill "The Middle" (which is very long in the tooth) by putting it in the same hour as this gruel. If so, they may succeed. No person or dog could possibly be so dull and bleak in real life. I realize dialog is easy to write when every third word is "like," but why does it have to be broadcast? Calculus homework is more entertaining.

This is a charming and sometimes uncomfortable play with great and convincing performances, but it cannot overcome being a stage play, and it is not cinematic. Most of Bartel's work is fairly cerebral chaos, and this is no exception. The story goes somewhere, but the camera does not. Lots of angles and the cutting cannot set the camera free of the confines of the fallout shelter.

Think of this as the prequel to "Blast from the Past." Most of the script is the shelter occupants replaying scripts they have written for themselves with snippets of misinterpreted stuff they have got from the outside world. This leaves many fill-in-the-blanks-for-yourself holes in the storyline, which is the source of much of the humor.

If you really like Bartel, you will like this. But if you need everything spoon-fed and all the bundles tied up, this won't be your cup of tea.

Disclaimer: this review is based on a VHR copy of the director's cut which was a gift from the director before it was released on video.