Waste of time

Simply A Masterpiece

Just perfect...

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

PBS was a pioneer in many areas of what is seen in television today. The impact "An American Family" had on our culture cannot be measured; it was something like no American audiences had experienced before. The openness of the Louds being themselves on a weekly basis was revolutionary at best. "Cinema Variete" wants to take today's viewers to the story behind the reality show.The ideal American family was found for producer Craig Gilbert by a friend of the Louds, who thought they would be perfect for what the producer wanted to achieve. Pat and Bill Loud had four children and led a comfortable life in Santa Barbara, California. Pat was a woman that exuded intelligence, as noted during her first encounters with Gilbert. She had her doubts about how the program would play, but evidently she thought it would be a great idea, but little did she suspect how it would change her life, and that of her family. Bill Loud was something else, he was a philandering man if he was given the opportunity to have sex outside the home.The film concentrates on the technical aspects more than in the family members. The only one that is showcased was Lance, a young man obviously in awe of himself and his wit. Santa Barbara was perhaps too provincial for him to express his artistic bent, so he fled to New York where he was able to be what he wanted to be in an open atmosphere, away from his parents and small town gossip. The other kids are not even given a thought in the film, even though they were prominently seen in the weekly programs.Robert Pulcini and Sharon Springer Berman share the directorial credit. The screenplay is by David Seltzer who tried to explain the new phenomenon on public television in a film format. Because of the limitations trying to condense the series into something that resemble a movie, the creators only touch on their subject without going too deep behind the real family.Diane Lane's Pat is one of the best things we have actually seen her do in recent memory. Her resemblance to the real Pat Loud is uncanny. Tim Robbins take on Bill is not quite right, although he also resembled the man he is portraying. James Gandolfini plays Craig Gilbert, a man with a vision that revolutionized the way we watched television shows. Thomas Dekker is seen as the flamboyant Lance Loud.

I struggled painfully through the first one-half or so of this film but finally felt it necessary to abandon it. It seemed to have the usual characteristics of an Indie flick conceived, written, produced, directed, edited, etc. etc. by a couple of something wannabes.It was interesting, but more-so disturbing, to see that four high caliber actors had for some reason agreed to perform in this catastrophe. I highly doubt that any of them were in need of the money. So I can only conclude that they simply needed something-to-do, each of them recognizing that their respective stellar screen records would not be tarnished in the least by this endeavor.My apologies to anyone who is offended by this evaluation, but I feel obligated to call 'em the way I see 'em.

This movie is about the first reality TV show. It was about the Louds, a family where the wife and husband are distant, and they have one son that moves out and seems to be gay, and the other children live at home. For most of the film, the family has little drama and doesn't look to be that interesting. Then the wife, Pat, finally has enough of Bill's cheating and decides to leave him on camera. She's sort of pushed to this point by the shows creator, whom lets her know about Bill's recommended actresses.At the end, you get to see the real people in TV clips, and the actors did a good job looking like them. Also we find out the real TV show had very high ratings. If only the shows creators could have seen some of the shows it would lead too.FINAL VERDICT: Interesting, catch it on cable if you can

CINEMA VERITE tries very hard to justify the trend it began in the 1970s by having a camera crew move into the household and private life of the well-to-do Loud family in Santa Barbara. The idea of a docudrama about a docudrama is acceptable as a flag for the obsession with Reality TV shows spawned by this experiment. Unfortunately the writing (by David Seltzer - apparently based on the book written by Pat Loud 'A Woman's Story' about the experience) is spotty and the recreation of (1971 when the 'series' was filmed and 1973 when it hit the television screens) reminds us how boring that time frame was. The direction by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini imitates the dreary 'spontaneity' of live action drama the film addresses. It plods, tripping on the cables for the cameras placed inside the home of this sad story. Documentary producer Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) devises a concept for PBS he calls 'An American Family' and searches for a family that does not depict the happy-wappy family of staged productions but instead inters the privacy of an American family, examining all the aspects of that institution. He selects the Loud family, particularly because he sees Pat Loud (Diane Lane) as an early women's rights activist able to say truths others might avoid. Gilbert paces his documentary to unveil the dirt that hides behind the scenes - motivated to prod Pat to discover Bill (Tim Robbins) her husband's infidelity, which led her to seek a divorce. The Louds have two sons involved in the dream of becoming a rock band, a daughter in the throes of discovering teenage love, and a gay son Lance (Thomas Dekker) who has moved to New York to live a raucous life without the approval of his father but one visited by Pat without complete acceptance. The film crew consists of a married couple - Alan Raymond (Patrick Fugit) and Susan Raymond (Shanna Collins) - who reluctantly agree to film even the most embarrassing scenes of the film. The gradual crumbling of the Loud marriage - not helped by either Gilbert or by Pat's 'friend' Val (Lolita Davidovich) who is actually another one of Bill's affairs - is what producer Gilbert wants to record, and he succeeds. The Louds end their marriage, Lance later dies of AIDS, and the other children have minor successes in their lives. But the overriding feeling of this film is showing how the inquisitive media can be destructive in attempting to share reality with the world at large. And so began the glut of reality shows that yearly grow more irreverent in respecting privacy. Diane Lane brings moments of brilliance to her role as the manipulated Pat and James Gandolfini is given the opportunity to push his acting chops. The problem is that we all know the quasi-tragic story on which this film is based, and making us witness it again is less than entertaining. It is disturbing. Grady Harp