udar55

True confession: Honey Boo Boo is my reality TV junk food. I've followed the family since the beginning, so I know the story of the Shannon clan pretty well. What can I say? I'm stubborn about quitting things. Anyway, it only makes sense that a TV movie about their lives would end up on Lifetime (my other secret addiction). And surprisingly this television adaptation is shockingly accurate as it follows the family's turmoil as they navigate sudden stardom and worse. Narrated by the real Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, it plays like a CliffsNotes version of over a decade of the family's highs and lows. I'm sure most folks will laugh at the notion that it is well made endeavor, but director Katie Boland and writer Emily Silver accurately depict events rather well. Also, a huuuuuuuge shout out should go to the casting director, who managed to find folks who really resembled their real-life counterparts. Neil Chinneck as Sugar Bear, Richard Emerson as Geno and Keith Alexander as Dralin are all great in their roles. Special shout out to the production designer who made sure Justin had the appropriate "King" necklace too. However, the real praise should fall to the three leading ladies on whom the film is built upon. Now, some might recoil at the notion that a TV movie about Honey Boo Boo actually has good acting, but the trio of lead roles (Mama June, Honey Boo Boo, and Pumpkin) are really well done. Chelsea Larkin has the unenviable task of essaying June and, while she might not look exactly like her (thank goodness!), she has Mama June's mannerisms down. Isabelle Ayres plays the teenage Alana aka Honey Boo Boo and really handles the complex emotional role well for a debuting actress and even sounds exactly like her at times. However, nothing could prepare me for Georgia Small as the grown-up Pumpkin. She sounds so much like her and had her mannerisms down that sometimes I thought it was the real Pumpkin on screen. It was eerie. Honey Boo Boo the show is kind of like that old pro wrestling adage: For fans, no explanation is necessary, and for critics, no explanation will do. I'm sure most will scoff at the idea of this even existing, but for what it is, the entire team did a great job.

Rodney Dangerfield's signature line of "I tell ya, I get no respect" is never more evident than in this bomb of a TV Pilot. Dangerfield finally hit the big time with BACK TO SCHOOL (1986), which was the sixth highest grossing film in the U. S. that year. How did Hollywood capitalize? By creating quite possibly the worst TV show pilot in history (which says a lot) in ...WHERE'S RODNEY. Dangerfield plays himself and is at the mental whims of a 14 year old obsessed with Dangerfield also named Rodney (Jared Rushton from HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS) who can zap Dangerfield to his side when he needs advice. We also get lots of "comedy" involving the kid's home life (with Jay Thomas as his dad). It is like the creators sat down and said "Let's make something that appeals to NONE of Dangerfield's fans." Insanity.

A family of four moves out of the bombed-out looking environs of Brooklyn to Safehaven 186, a guarded building offering safety from the bad world. Unfortunately, the place is run by a gang led by Preacher (Roy MacArthur). When the family father is falsely arrested, son Jeff (John Wittenbauer) must team up with brooding loner Pierce (Rick Gianasi) to take on Preacher and his gang. The Italians pretty much dominated the NYC post-apoc game, but it is interesting to see the American take on it. They shoot at the same bombed out neighborhoods the Italians did for ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX (1983), but the creation of the safehaven city is a bit weak. Gianasi, who apparently had the NY sci-fi leading man roles sewn up in the '80s, is good and it is funny the bad guys feel they can convey their badness by having British accents. Director Brian Thomas Jones had previously done THE REJUVENATRIX (1988) and this - which shot as BLOODSCAPE (huh?) in February 1988 - is the definition of a sophomore slump. There are some good qualities to it though and the last 30 minutes it gets it going.