Tunnelvision

I missed the beginning but I did see most of it. A friend got it on DVD in the cheap room at FYE.

The skits are all very short, and yet most of them are still too long. The majority of them, they seem to have forgotten to have something funny! Quite a lot of racist/sexist/"homophobic" humor in it, skits based on stereotypes, or skits which use racist terms for people.

I'm trying to remember anything I thought was funny in it, and I'm having trouble.... The logo for the Tunnel Vision network is a lipsticked mouth with an eyeball in it. The mouth opens and closes over the eye like eyelids. Kind of creepy.

What a disappointment. Most of the actors went on to better things, and it's lucky this bomb didn't hold them back.

It's extremely dated, dopey and wildly uneven, but there are still some pretty good laughs to be had in this short collection of skits that take a look at what "television of the future" will be like (?) Even if the humor isn't your cup of tea, it's worth a look just to spot the large cast of then-unknown and up-and-coming comedy talent. Rent it with the similarly-themed "The Groove Tube" for an evening of mindless juvenile fun.

This movie is a prime example of squandering great resources in a film. You've got future SNL and SCTV stars in their prime, such as John Candy, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Al Franken,Tom Davis and Joe Flaherty essentially making 70 minutes of coarse, uninspired fart and racist jokes. The concept of a network from the future subverting society could have really been taken to some interesting extremes, but instead right out the gate, makes a lame, juvenile proctology joke and stays in that vein of humor the whole way.Seek out the earlier and much more subversive and witty Groove Tube or the later, hilarious Kentucky Fried Movie. This movie is only for those who want to see a time capsule of bad 70's sketch comedy movies.

If you don't think today's American comedies have been dumbed down, you should give TUNNEL VISION a look. Crude and tasteless, extremely dated, but very, very smart. It's amazing how many jokes you miss because here, it's all in the writing. Sure, kids today won't get a lot of the 70's pop and political references, but if you actually paid attention in your history and political science classes (as well as TNN and TVLAND), it shouldn't be a problem. Can you say that about TOMCATS and AMERICAN PIE? The wraparound segments of a federal hearing pertaining to the effects on the nation for watching the Tunnel Vision network are eerily prophetic given the current Media Marketing Responsibility Act Lieberman and Clinton and Kohl are trying to push. Politically Correct viewers may balk at some of the bits on race, but the film skewers everybody, plus it's obvious that there's more going on then just a cheap laugh at different minority (and majority) groups' expense. TUNNEL VISION is more than just an old sketch comedy movie from the 70's, and it's sad that most modern comedies can't approach the cerebral humor on display here.

1976 saw the release of this movie and the Oscar-winning classic Network. There really is no argument as to which is the better film, but the idea of American viewers becoming glued to their TV sets because of an "anything goes" TV station doesn't seem too far-fetched today. Of the skit comedies of the '70s (Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube being the others), this is the weakest. But it has some moments. The competing California candidates is a funny running gag, but the French chef is definitely not and unfortunately shows up throughout the movie. If you want to compare the success of these three films, you can use the filmmakers' later work as a gauge: The makers of Kentucky Fried Movie went on to Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, Airplane, Police Squad and Top Secret. The makers of The Groove Tube went on to Modern Problems (and Richard Belzer went on to radio). The makers of Tunnel Vision went on to Bachelor Party and Moving Violations. You do the math.