thriftymoviecritic There are so many films in the Direct to Video market that is just utter garbage, but there are a few movies that are a diamond in the rough. Lip Service is a fantastic film about the music industry as well as a decent Romantic Comedy.The plot of the movie is about a record producer named Roger (Peter Outerbridge) is asked to produce a record for an up and coming super star named Sunni (Kari Wuhrer). The issue is that Sunni may be one of the worst singers around so Roger needs to find a way to cover up her voice. He finds a soccer mom named Maggie (Gail O'Grady) in a bar and gets her to do the vocals. Sunni becomes an instant superstar while Maggie does not get any recognition. At the end of the film Maggie ends up being the star and Sunni is no longer famous.The humor of the film is very campy, but it uses that to its advantage. At the end of the film Roger asks his friend Buddo (Jerry Ciccoritti) for help to mute Maggie's tracks during Sunni's debut concert. Roger uses one of the funniest lines ever conceived in my opinion to get Buddo to help: "She baked you cookies." Buddo has a montage of Maggie giving him a cookie and he accepts Roger's proposal to take down Sunni. The line itself is funny, but the montage is the icing on the cake or the chocolate chip on the cookie.The Romance between Maggie and Roger was very unique in my opinion. It is not your tradition Romantic Comedy where the two leads eventually fall in love and live happily ever after. It is a Traditional Romance in the real world from my perspective. Maggie and Roger have great romantic chemistry together, but they never act upon it. Roger did kiss Maggie and she fantasized about him while cleaning the house, but apart from that they never acted on their emotions towards one another. At the end of the film Roger is caught in a sex romp with Sunni and ends up being single while Maggie is still happily married. The romance in this film reminded me of Once, but on a less bittersweet note. In Once I wanted the two leads to be together, but I knew it was impossible. In Lip Service I was fine with Roger and Maggie never getting together.Lip Service was surprisingly a fantastic film. I found it in a dollar rack in a Dollar General. I thought it was going to be a campy version of Showgirls, but I liked this film a lot more than I thought I would have. If you have a chance to find a copy of this movie you will not be disappointed.For the full review go to my site: http://www.thriftymoviecritic.com/reviews-1-5.html

emperorsclothes This movie is an embarrassment to film-making. I can't believe it was even listed as a comedy - not funny. Not only was the script atrocious, but the casting people should be shot. Gail O'Grady is just a great actress, but beyond that... %99 of the rest of the cast...ouch. Pretty much everyone else...wow it is hard to even...wow. Here is the number one rule about comedy "DON'T TRY TO BE FUNNY". There are a lot of very talented actors in Canada who can do drama and comedy - none of them were used in this film. Canadian nepotism and casting directors are helping to perpetuate bad film-making in Canada. I realize this is technically a "US" film, but look at the director, actors, location, etc. I just saw this on Bravo - they should be ashamed that they bought the rights to show this film. Again, there are a lot of great films out there that can't get airtime and they show this crap.

OldPolitico I saw the DVD in a store and bought it on the strength of Gail O'Grady starring in it as I had liked her work on NYPD Blue. I have seen it perhaps three times and it is, on its own terms, better than average made for TV fare. Three things bothered me about the story, though. First, since our heroine Maggie's son has a band and she claims to believe in his singing talent, why does she never ask Deacon to listen to his demo tape or help him in any way at all? Second, where are the lawyers? Even if Deacon was only planning to use Maggie's voice behind (more like in front) of Sunni's when he started out at that first recording session, he would know that he needed a signed release from her even if she was not to be put under contract. Not doing so might (ought to) have made Maggie suspicious. Besides, he doesn't have much money at that point and her fee would be a business expense if he could document it. The story could reach the concert conclusion by way of legal maneuvering rather than hijacking the control room. Third, and last, it doesn't quite ring true that Maggie would have been able to instantly cast off her fear of singing in public quite so easily at the end. When Deacon introduces her to the crowd and the film cuts to her view through that sheer drape, right before she steps in front of it on the stage, I expected her to start singing from there where the audience couldn't see her except perhaps in silhouette.

howie73 I enjoyed this film more than I thought but I was also annoyed by some aspects of it. The protagonist, Roger Deacon, is the main problem. The problem lies not with the actor Peter Outerbridge but with the way he is portrayed. This is the man who betrayed his naive and shy forty-something Martha Stewart look-a-like protégée, Maggie Stanley, by gaining her trust then letting her think she cannot have a recording contract because he is committed to promoting the talentless, Sunni, the mistress of a powerful record company boss to whom Peter is indebted. When Peter redeems himself for Maggie at the end it feels a bit contrived and hollow, as if Peter's hypocrisy can be absolved by an act of honesty. But by also exposing a talentless Sunni in public he humiliates another woman, all for the sake of exposing a truth he chose to conceal as a ruse in the first place. Thank heavens we can sympathize with Maggie, a passive housewife too shy to make a fuss even when she realizes she has been conned by Peter. The music is quite good for a TV movie in spite of the mismatch between Maggie and her supposed voice. The only thing that puzzled me was the fact Maggie only recorded 3 tracks for Sunni's album. The ending was a little abrupt though, and more could have been said about the appearance/reality theme. Yet there were many sharp lines satirizing the superficial values of the record company world.