Out of Sync

Nothing heavy and deep, but wholesome entertainment if you are in the mood for something light and funny. If you happen to be a fan of either Karin Wuhrer (Salin)[formerly of the series 'Sliders', and in 'Hotblooded'] and or Gail O'Grady [lately in 'Another's Woman's Husband', and the new series 'American Dreams'] (as I am), then this is something you don't want to miss. Looks like some people are just too heavy handed to appreciate something that is just light fare, and should be taken as such. ;-)

Because I knew this was a VH1 Original, I knew not to expect much of the movie. I was right. This movie tells the story of washed-up record producer, Deacon. Deacon's jet plane back to the glamour he once knew arrives in the form of Sunni, the new "it" girl of Golden Records with the body of a goddess and voice comparable to nails on a chalkboard. Deacon takes on the project of producing Sunni's record, convinced he can make her voice sound reasonable using studio magic. This plan fails to work. Enter Maggie Stanley, a housewife blessed with a beautiful singing voice while cursed with a severe case of stage fright. Deacon decides to replace Sunni's voice with Maggie's, and chaos ensues from there when Sunni's career rises farther than Deacon ever wanted to. Realizing he is in love with the very married Maggie, Deacon's conscience takes hold of him, instructing him to tell the truth about Sunni, much to the chagrin of Lowell, a record exec at Golden who wants to keep this secret under lock and key.

Peter Outerbridge, an actor I had previously never heard of, shines as Deacon, a down-on-his-luck, believable, and very lovable character, who, despite having experienced the highs of fame and fortune and the lows of bankruptcy and flops on Billboard, still manages to find a kindred soul in the stage fright-stricken Maggie. Kari Wuhrer, as Sunni, brings an extremely annoying sense of innocence to her character, who is supposed to come off as a shrewd businesswoman in a Barbie doll package. Gail O'Grady gives a so-so performance. She has delivered a better performance because she been given better scripts to work with. The whole thing movie is lacking in its sense of direction, especially with the romantic "quadrangle" involving Sidney Golden, Sunni, Deacon, Maggie, and Stan, Maggie's husband. So much more could have been explored between Deacon and Maggie. Perhaps the writer took the route he did to keep Deacon's "good guy" image.

If you happen to catch this movie between back-to-back Behind the Movie marathons (isn't that what they ALWAYS air on VH1?...), go ahead and kill some time, but don't make a point of watching it.

I didn't know what to expect from a VH1 "Movie That Rocks", but considering I had a headache when I saw it I thought it was pretty good. Gail O'Grady has a perfect look of vengeance when she finds out her voice was being used, not to mention the stunning vocals. Kari Wuhrer is great at acting horrible. The tracks from the movie weren't too bad either. All in all, I enjoyed it a lot and will try to catch it again the next time it airs.

I like this film basically because of the songs. The opening sequence was what hooked me. I think it's funny how one song can be either made great, or destroyed by the wrong singing voice. The storyline isn't bad either. It appealed to me because of its Cinderella theme. It's funny and sexy, but somewhat preposterous at times. But it's all in good, clean fun. I love the singing voice used by Gail O'Grady. It's a voice that meshes well with the songs used in the film. It's a good movie to stay up late for when you don't have to go to work tomorrow. Though the script could have been better, all in all, I enjoyed it and I would like to see it again.

That's about the only good thing I can say about this sapball, cornfest. One thing of interest, seeing as this is supposed to be a feel-good movie in the end, is that it's actually a very mean-spirited movie...

I was disappointed how Kari Wuhrer (did I mention she was babelicious, as she always is?) was treated in the end, when she did nothing to deserve the treatment she got, when in fact all hurt feelings and snickering should have went towards the record industry, instead of her. But I digress.

This is TV movie of the week stuff, with bad acting, bad plot and an unbelievable Hollywood ending. No points to VH1 for this one, folks. It's pretty lame.

See it only for Kari, who I'd chop off my middle finger to be with (if you know what I mean)... Otherwise, avoid.