La guerra dell'audience

"The Ratings Game" is the first made for Showtime film and it's an over-the-top film...the sort that might make you laugh but also is pretty dopey.

Vic (Danny DeVito) is a rich guy who has dreams of being a TV producer. But he's also a talentless clod who doesn't know the first thing about making TV shows. Not surprisingly, again and again he's rejected by the networks because his ideas are, frankly, terrible. However, when a network exec is fired, he okays a TV pilot starring Vic....mostly out of a desire for revenge.

As for Vic, he's a guy who comes up with a scheme. It seems his girlfriend (Rhea Perlman) works for Computron...a Nielsen-type service that monitors TV viewing for the networks. Using her inside information, Vic and his associates track down a hundred of these families whose viewing is monitored. He arranges for these families all to have a free cruise...during which time, Vic's men break into the familys' homes and watch Vic's show....giving it incredibly high ratings despite the show being crude and stupid. But the problem is that when the show is a hit, the network wants to buy the show and make Vic a star....so this means keeping these unfortunate families on an extended cruise! What's next? See the film.

The acting in this one is very broad as is the writing. It's funny and insightful while ALSO being rather dopey. My daughter watched it with me and hated it. I thought that despite everything, it is cute and worth seeing....but I do agree the film was a bit stupid.