Lip Service (1988 TV Movie) User Reviews

It was a good movie

[Its_Cold_In_Canada · 6/10 · 28 January 2007]

This was a good movie, another good Macy project, who also makes a brief cameo appearance as a guest on the show towards the end. This is a good example of real life where we see a clash of old vs new. Gil as a conservative traditionalist struggles to adapt to the changing world of news, Leonard bringing in the new form of news, gimmicky.

This was Macy's first and only attempt at directing in roughly twenty years, and I believe you can see his touch in this film. There is a lot of good character building and progression through out the film. As we see in the end Leonard's gimmicks are wearing thin as is his patience with the morning show and it's crew.

In the end we see that Gill, has redeemed himself and outshone Leonard, by writing the book that Gill, I assume was only joking about. Gill achieves success through his earlier and traditional ways, which everyone believes to be boring, and through this Gill even achieves fame and success where Gill is still stuck in the same newsroom which he had hoped he would have left behind after 1 year, yet 3 years later he is still stuck in the same room.

This was a good film by Macy, not as great as Fargo, Magnolia, or even The Cooler, but it was good. With some good smart humour injected at points in the movie just to keep it interesting enough. Based on this I'll give it a 6, cheers.

Good and incisive; an unsung gem

[AnonII · 25 September 1999]

This non-theatrical, HBO TV movie is as good and incisive a comedic look at the lower levels of the TV-station/news business as the classic Network(1976) is to the upper echelons. Dunne & Dooley excel in this all but unseen, unacclaimed,subtly ruthless spoof of the (lack of) values, the disloyalty and insincerity, and the ignorance of mediocre TV talents.

I didn't realize that William Macy directed this early effort until I discovered the fact here. Not surprised. The wit and intelligent restraint he exhibits as an actor ("Fargo," Pleasantville," even "Civil Action") are evident here, too. And there's Felicity Huffman in an early acting turn, too.

Funny look on the behind the scenes life on TV

[bellino-angelo2014 · 8/10 · 21 July 2023]

LIP SERVICE might look like another forgotten TV movie from the 1980s. After all, it has a paltry score of 5,4 and only two reviews to date with the highest score that gives it a 6. But since in recent months I tried to watch as many William Macy movies I could find, I tried this one and, regardless of the fact that he appeared for only two scenes few minutes before the end, it still was a good TV movie.

Lennard Burdette (Griffin Dunne) is a young TV comedian that is having a bad moment because his ideas are considered old fashioned and his new shows aren't picked up. His old friend Gilbert Hutchinson (Paul Dooley) instead is having success and even wrote a book about how he found success. Lennard reads it and after some failed attempts, he'll find again success and fame and his shows will be picked up again.

The idea was great and could look like inspired by real life situations. How many times you had that friend that has more success than yourself and you want to become like him or even outbeat him? And besides, there were various funny moments that if I mention them all here, the review will never end. The acting by Dunne and Dooley was great and despite it's only a made for TV feature they give some of their best performances.

Overall, a decent TV movie that is worth your time and, about time... it lasts only 1 hour and 5 minutes.