Ramblings of a Geek

The Onion Movie, titled ‘News Movie’ in the UK, presumably to tie it in to the Friedberg/Seltzer abominations that pass off as comedy. The Onion Movie, however, is a refreshing take on the media industry, specifically the 24 hour rolling news networks. The framing device is a loving parody of the film ‘Network, in which veteran news anchor Norm Archer forces the corporate takeover of his news show.

The film is broken up with promos, and short segments of other shows on The Onion News Network. These parody everything from the overly-sexual music videos of Britney Spears, to Steven Seagal’s acting career (here using his direct-to-dvd experience as Cockpuncher.) Other segments cover the 24 hour news programmes, small town news, and the obsolescence of technology.

The film is much more than a comedy, it’s a satire of the current media and public, who seem obsessed with reality TV and celebrity. This is fantastically parodied during the newscasts of Norm Archer, where his corporate bosses try to insert product placement and promos into an otherwise admirable and respected newscast.

In short, you should check this out - the title is a little misleading, but it more than makes up for the other ‘movie’ movies. I’ll put a link to the UK and US amazon pages below.

UK: http://tinyurl.com/NewsMovie
US: http://tinyurl.com/theOnionMovie