Reviews

How did this narrator get voice-over work? No 35-year-old woman should sound like she's 10. Woefully miscast and annoying. Ruins otherwise interesting episodes.

I was 11 years old when this series came out and thought it was pretty hot stuff then. Fifty years later, I watch it now on MeTV and find the plot on every episode utterly preposterous.

This was the last episode in the series, and I have to believe it was only aired because of some contractual obligation. This should have never been released to the public. It is so flawed on so many levels. It totally lacks continuity, the opening scene containing footage that is repeated later in the episode. I also understand that the overdubbing of Mary Badham's exterior dialog by June Foray was due to background noise, but it should have caused the entire episode to be scrapped. And let's not forget the hideous dialog and acting, especially from the shrewish mother. It's kind of shocking that Earl Hamner went on to be successful with The Waltons after having written this horrible piece of crap. Every year during the Twilight Zone marathon I watch this miserable train wreck and wonder how it ever got released.

During the era of blaxploitation films, black folks flocked to the theatres. It's nice to see your people on screen, even if they are portrayed in stereotypical or simple-minded ways. Fortunately, we've made progress since then. I can't help but wonder whether the same phenomenon explains the undeserved rave reviews for Latter Days, that gay people are now where black people were in the 70s. Most gay characters in the media are swishing flames (Will and Grace is a perfect example). So when we see ourselves on the big screen in a more realistic portrayal, we gush over it as if it's a great cinematic event. In reality, Latter Days is a pretty simple-minded look at a very deep subject, the homophobia inherent to organized religion and a Mormon family eating its young when their first born turns out to be gay. Two characters in particular are so poorly rendered it's laughable. Christian goes from promiscuous sex pig and party boy in a heartbeat when he falls for Aaron. And the Mormon elder played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt magically morphs from hateful to helpful to Christian. A lifetime fag hater doesn't change his stripes that quickly. The climax, which I won't give away to those who haven't seen the film, is totally predictable. Easily 30 minutes could have been edited out of this film. Halfway through, I was squirming in my seat wondering how much longer it was going to take to wrap this up.

There is nice eye candy in the movie. But sugar is quickly digested and you're left hungry for something more substantial.

It's pathetic that so many viewed this film as excellent just because it wasn't "Hollywood" or was shot by a jerky hand-cam (which gave me motion sickness). This was one of the worst films I've ever seen, and not scary in the least. The "dialogue" (if one can call it that) was gratuitously foul-mouthed and the acting lame. I suggest a title change to "Dude, Where's My F*cking Car?"