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Show Sasiinnmeweeeee == 0 SSaacaneslli an reer E APRIL 25, 2001 | <AWAGAECH COUNTY COURHR: : ae BB hed ah Ruth Robards The Banality of Evil back—his dead weight slamming the : ill TV audiences gladly stomach anything . de sac in Midway. and ONLY $315,000 “By the way, do you have any bean = _ dip?’ she inquires of the clerk in one of the most memorable non-sequiturs in recent movie history. “What am I supposed to do with the body?” the tremulous clerk asks, forgetting that the customer is always right. “Oh, let them clean it up,” Dawn replies. Part of the problem with the pic- Review by Paul Swenson \ 2. elation that characters, are CALL ple for celebrity and depravity? (As if matter iimagine their existence. There © we didn’t already know the answer writer, cop or politician to blame or to that one.) Those who savor take once public killings become comstretch to commercialize ‘studio audience that Dawn satire straight—who are there to fantasize how thrilling it might be to compete for fame and fortune on a television show-that assigns them an automatic weapon and a camera- Series | | provide. Jeff, an “ex- plays exclusively), you| can occasionally , gay” hear | them laughing at all the , wrong moments. Not that there isn some mordant humor * suicidal : Vendors Include: decor, an Contact ey, video graphy & more. JoNell 654- 1404 STE — y ELEGANT artist with (no kidding) testicular cancer, thinks | it would be a poetic | ending to be offed by his former lover. Brooke Smith as Dawn Lagarto in in Minahan’s movie, Connie (Marylouise Series 7. =. ‘shot with hand-held _ Burke), a middle-aged cameras and ume as actual Roman Catholic nurse, who has comepisodes of a smash TV “reality” series passionately lent her needle for a called “The Contenders,” in which six mercy killing or two, examines her finalists chosen by lottery, are encourautomatic weapon with wonder, telling aged to stalk and kill until only a single the camera, “God never gives us more “winner” survives. “Real people in real — than we can handle.” For Franklin danger of their lives,” burbles the sopo(Richard Ventura), an acrimonious senrific promos for the program. “The ior citizen, a gun is almost superfluous rules are as simple as life and death, _ since he would just as soon kill someand the prize is-the only prize: that one with his crutch. Lindsay (Merritt counts—your life.” Wever), a tendentious teen-ager, is What Minahan succeeds in capchauffeured to her attempted hits by turing most clearly is the triviality of her stage-door parents who see “The television and the banality of evil. All - Contenders” as her one big chance. lines between entertainment and realiTony (Michael Kaycheck), a jobless ty are erased and when opportunity husband and father, talks earnestly arises for instant repute as one of the about his amateur hitman status as a chosen, the tools of murder carefully way to feed his family—a natural exten_ consigned the combatants are regardsion of the American dream. ed with no more repugnance than gro_ Because they have so little curioscery carts provided lucky consumers ity about the enterprise in which they in a television shopping spree. are engaged, the super normality of Dawn Lagarto (Brooke Smith), these American Dreamers wears irrithe blonde, pregnant single mother tatingly thin long before we learn who whom the camera follows breathlessly will survive, which weakens the point in the opening sequence as she scurof Minahan’s satire. They are, in fact, : ries across a parking lot with her handalmost as featureless as their real-life gun drawn, is uptight and nervous. counterparts on “Survivor,” a crushing But once she’s shadowed her male irony since Series 7 was conceived and quarry into a convenience store and packaged by Minahan before he was — cold-bloodedly shot him in the even aware of the show’s existence. j oe - sions of television “programming,” who © _ find easy and ironic rationales for their 7 | man. In the darkened 951-4663 The death duelists are all on automatic pilot, their brains mere extenactions. Dawn is fighting for a better life for her unborn child __ that a - “Contenders” win will theater (Galt Lake City’s - Tower, where — | jewelry, a“ and her high school sweetheart Jeff (Glenn Fitzgerald) —who turns up as one of “The Contenders” to muddy the emotional killscape—are “unavailable” and will be played in one scene by actors. the death among private citizens. | FREE (866) Edelweiss Center- 210 East Main, Midway 6PM-9PM Get great ideas for ceremonies & receptions! | appear late in the game to explaintoa duels to ‘So, it’s a little unnerving to Fe that.an average audience for Daniel Minahan’s Series 7: The Contenders may contain at leasta few people who see the _ - gets in the way of a contender trying to fire on a fleeing car). ATV flunky does -monplace, it won’t be much of a or toll free Wednesday « April 25th The cameramen are the only representatives of the system and they remain coldly silent witnesses of everything they record (with a single memo_ rable exception when one accidentally execution. And (435) 654-7444 Clinte— “The Contenders,” the ultimate brutal brainchild of TV’s reality craze. _ who clamor for a live telecast of | McVeigh’s for | Bridat & Reception is no one in authority—not a producer, “Survivor” are of the same mindset. Timothy RUTH | ever reveals the capacity of ordinary peo- _ allowed to confront “them” or for that responsibility Call for details HEBER CITY LOT FOR SALE UNDER $40,000 ture is that we, nor any of the mock documentary’s oe ry ‘reliete relaxes with Py 1/2 STARS A eae floor—she WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY DANIEL MINAHAN. STARRING BROOKE SMITH, GLENN FITZGERALD, MARYLOUISE BURKE, RICHARD VENTURE, MICHAEL KAYCHECK AND MERRITT WEVER. — : Contractor’ S Own. 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