Action: The Complete Series
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DVD details
Actor: Buddy Hackett, Illeana Douglas, Jack Plotnick, Jarrad Paul, Jay MohrBrand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Producer: Brian Volk-Weiss
Writer: Chris Thompson
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 299 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-21
Audience Rating: NC-17
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of Action: The Complete Series
DVD Review: "We're not going to get anything out of a writer who's rectally hemorrhaging!"
Summary: 5 Stars
One might make a serious drama about the movie-making business, but a nasty satire is so much more fun. The material is virtually self-satirizing, anyway. (Many of the incidents are supposedly true, related to the writers by Joel Silver.) The series' running joke (or underlying conceit, if you want to get literary about it), is that the only decent, honest, self-aware character is Wendy -- a prostitute. Billy Wilder -- who co-wrote and directed "Sunset Blvd.", another black comedy about the movie business -- would have loved "Action".
It's unfortunate the series was cancelled, as we don't see whether "Beverly Hills Gun Club" is ever completed. It presumably would have been, as the series' producer hoped to actually film the movie!
The interview with the producer (Chris Thompson) is strange. He almost always looks down and refuses to face the interviewer, confessing that "Action" appeared on Fox, rather than HBO, because Fox offered more money. This is probably true, but it's hard to tell whether his other self-deprecating remarks are.
Amazon's NC-17 rating is absurd. (The package is labelled "No Rating".) This is a TV-MA (R) show. However, the disclaimer at the beginning that "Portions of 'ACTION' may be inappropriate for younger viewers" is wrong --/everything/ in "Action" is inappropriate for younger viewers.
This is one of those programs that's "too good for television". Unreservedly recommended.
PS: Joss Whedon did a movie ("Serenity") based on a failed series ("Firefly"). So why /shouldn't/ we eventually see a film of "Beverly Hills Gun Club"?
DVD Review: Behind the scenes
Summary: 4 Stars
Outlandish and fun. The first episodes, which appeared on Fox, are wonderful.. so that's how TV production REALLY works?! It holds up after a decade, too! Reserve a table at The Ivy. DVD Review: If you like Entourage, you'll love Action
Summary: 5 Stars
I was going through all of my old VHS tapes and almost "bleeped" myself when I found my old "Action" tape. I forgot about the series a long time ago because my VHS tapes have been collecting dust for years. I've been a fan of "Entourage" since its inception and wondered all these years why Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold reminded me so much of an old friend of mine even though I never had a friend like him. It was because Jay Mohr's Peter Dragon set the standard for the "bleep" Hollywood big wig who everyone knew by name and reputation, but whose face was always hidden. Given more episodes and a cable network that could have allowed the writers more freedom, "Entourage" could have served as the perfect little brother to "Action" if it had been on for five or six seasons as it should have. Unfortunately it was just too sharp, brash and real for pg-13 audiences back in 1999 and I guess not enough people wanted their hollywood bubble to be burst. Instead we can thank Hugh Grant, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Winona Ryder, Britney and anyone else that showed us that the big stars, no matter how big, are just as human and messed up as the rest of us. Even though Buddy Hackett is no longer with us, the main stars are, and if anyone has any sense, they'll bring them back for the "Action" feature movie and give all the remaining fans a little closure to the best inside hollywood parody that never was. DVD Review: Too "inside Hollywood" for most of America
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a damn funny, dark at times, series. I suspect it was too specific to the entertainment industry to be a nationwide hit. If you want some insight on the workings of Hollywood this, and the film "Swimming with Sharks" are two great choices.DVD Review: Now I want to see "Beverly Hills Gun Club"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Action" is yet another one of those great TV series that you've never heard of because it got cancelled almost as soon as it began. The 13 episodes of this series tell the continuing story of Hollywood movie producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr) and his attempts to make the seemingly doomed action film "Beverly Hills Gun Club" (the description of which sounds so incredibly bad and trashy that if it really existed I would be the first in line at the cinema to see it) by "selling his soul to the devil one piece at a time".
"Action" is an incredibly funny series. It skewers all of the top names in Hollywood (at the time it was made - 1999), as well as the film industry in general, and doesn't hold back in doing so. Each episode targets a different aspect of showbiz - from actors, to directors, to investors, to writers. No one is spared. The show is completely offensive and is up to its eyeballs in coarse language and sex and drug references, not to mention jokes that are just in plain bad taste - I don't mean gross-out humour, I mean jokes that make you stop and think "I can't believe they just said that", right before bursting out laughing.
The reason why I didn't give this show five stars is because, even though I thoroughly enjoyed this series, the show did start to run out of steam towards the end. The episodes on disc two just aren't as funny as the episodes on disc one, and Illeana Douglas, as child star turned prostitute turned film executive, Wendy Ward (my favourite character in the series, played by one of my favourite actresses) "vanishes" from several episodes on the second disc. Nevertheless, by the time I got to disc two, I was so interested in finding out what the next disaster to befall Peter Dragon would be, that the story kept me going in place of the jokes.
Description of Action: The Complete Series
Way too edgy for network TV, this funny, uncensored, naming-names series peels off the glitter of Hollywood moviemaking and exposes the duplicitous but totally addictive, behind-the-scenes truth. Campy, uncesored and very controversial, this "too close to" reality show features guest stars that include Keanu Reeves, Salma Hayek, Scott Wolf and Sandra Bullock. Superstar producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr, host of TV's "Last Comic Standing") builds his stellar career on the three pillars of show business - prostitution, nepotism and dishonesty. Adding to that an ego as big as a Beverly HIlls mansion, the aptly-named Dragon and his cohorts manage to be politically incorrect, back-stabbing, phony, petty, pissy and most of all - ingeniously funny! Action is the hilarious and outrageous Hollywood send-up from producer Joel Silver (The Matrix Trilogy and Lethal Weapon films).Immoral, politically incorrect, and fiercely funny, Action: The Complete Series is a timeless comedy focusing on a group of Hollywood insiders whose moral compass has spun out of control. Led by uber-producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr), the series' first and only season ferociously lampoons the sleaziness of modern-day Hollywood. Dragon--seemingly the separated-at-birth brother of slimy uber-agent Bob Sugar (also played by Mohr) from Jerry Maguire--is a jerk who pretends to be gay when it's convenient and doesn't understand why Salma Hayek (playing herself) would slap him silly for making inappropriate suggestions during an earlier audition. In Dragon's lair, sexual harassment is an inconvenience, the screenwriter is an afterthought, and a movie isn't a film unless it's got mega-explosions. Mohr and Illeana Douglas (portraying an ex-child star turned prostitute turned studio executive) are a joy to watch. When a sycophantic colleague accuses Dragon of promoting a hooker over him, he calmly says, "She's my prostitute. You're my whore." A subtle difference, yes, but one that makes a world of difference in Hollywood. If there's a plus side to this topnotch series being canceled in 1999, it's that the writers didn't have time to let the show disintegrate into hackneyed clich?s. There is no warm-hearted parable to justify the nasty means--just a lot of quick-witted dialogue and an excellent ensemble cast that makes viewers enjoy the characters despite (or should that be because of?) their numerous flaws. --Jae-Ha Kim
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