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VNue Media 8/4/06: The Business

The Business
By Barry Garron

Bottom line: A limited series takes a comedic sledgehammer to film industry stereotypes.
11:30 p.m. Fridays
IFC

The team that created the comedy series "The Festival," a fresh and funny look at independent film festivals, has come up with a new angle on the film industry. In "The Business," Vic Morgenstein (Rob Deleeuw), a successful producer of raunchy soft porn strives for respect in the world of legitimate film.

In this series of eight half-hour episodes, Morgenstein makes all the right moves to succeed. He hires an imaginative writer-director and an ambitious producer, secures the necessary financing and even converts to Judaism because, he reasons, it will give him a leg up in the industry.

Nothing, however, goes according to plan. The director is a temperamental flake who falls for the leading lady, a former stripper and porn star. The financing comes from his vulgar and demanding Japanese ex-brother-in-law. And the rabbi supervising his conversion has more questions than answers.

The series has a "take-no-prisoners" style of humor, eschewing subtle and nuanced wit in favor of screaming parody. Except for Julia Sullivan (Kathleen Robertson), the producer recruited from a mind-numbing job at IFC ("There is no "I" in IFC. We are a team," a colleague reminds her), the series is populated by caricatures, most of them terribly familiar. The dialogue seems strained at times and production elements are spartan.

Nobuya Shimamoto plays Japanese lowbrow financier Kenji Nakamura with gusto, maybe a little too much gusto. While some producers and directors recoil from the negative portrayals of Asians in the past, "The Business" goes in the opposite direction. Kenji, armed with samurai sword, is guilty of outrageous and licentious behavior. At times, it's even embarrassing to watch.

Even so, there's a spirit and a freshness to the series that makes it, thankfully, more than the sum of its parts. Deleeuw makes Morgenstein sympathetic despite his crass style and disreputable background. Equally praiseworthy is the work of Robertson, whose character will go to any length and make nearly any compromise in order to earn her producer stripes. Collectively, this is a solid cast that probably could get laughs reading a wanted poster.

IFC's decision to schedule this so late at night is most likely because of the occasional glimpses of bare breasts, mainly from clips of Morgenstein's "Drunk Chicks" series of films. The clips have a comic payoff, but you've got to be patient. Meanwhile, enjoy the inspired performances and the funny bombs that get lobbed at industry pretentiousness.

THE BUSINESS
IFC
Philms Pictures Inc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Brandi-Ann Milbradt, Colin Neale, Debbie DeMontreux, Evan Shapiro, Rachel Smith
Director: Phil Price
Writers: Phil Price, Myles Hainsworth
Cinematographers: John Ashmore, Bobby Shore
Editors: Phil Price, David Eberts
Art director: Annika Krausz
Set decorator: Jesse Stewart
Cast:
Vic Morgenstein: Rob Deleeuw
Julia Sullivan: Kathleen Robertson
Rufus Marquez: Nicolas Wright
Tony Russ: Trevor Hayes
Rabbi Diamond: Arthur Holden
Kenji Nakamura: Nobuya Shimamoto
Scarlet Saint-James: Karen Cliche
Lance: James A. Woods
The Closer: Clive Walton

© Vnue Media

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