Open Season Movie Review

Sometimes films play at festivals and are never seen again, unless the filmmaker makes a deal with a cable network or a video distributor. Open Season poses the rather esoteric question: what would happen if all the television shows we THOUGHT had low ratings (like the ones on PBS) suddenly were declared THE top-rated shows? Bet you've really stayed awake nights worrying about that one, huh? Well, in Robert Wuhl's 1995 film, it's a mistake, but the whole country thinks it's reality and our entire society changes as a result. I guess you might call this a high-concept flick. The best thing about this movie is Maggie Han, who plays Wuhl's wife. Otherwise, good actors like Taylor and Shaver are wasted as nitwit television executives. Wuhl later played one of the nitwit movie executives in Mario Puzo's The Last Don for CBS.

1995 (R) 97m/C Robert Wuhl, Rod Taylor, Gailard Sartain, Maggie Han, Joe Piscopo, Helen Shaver, Dina Merrill, Saul Rubinek, Steven C. White, Timothy Arrington, Barry Flatman, Tom Selleck, Alan Thicke, Jimmie Walker; D: Robert Wuhl; W: Robert Wuhl; C: Stephen Lighthill; M: Marvin Hamlisch. VHS, Closed Caption