MINI MOVIE REVIEW: “Tom and Francie” (2005)

Angry Bunny and the rest of the Just-Altered-Enough-To-Save-Us-From-Litigation-Gang’s gonna get you!

According to IMDB, Tom and Francie “follows the creation of a new children’s tv show, “Accepting Everyone Through Music,” while pursuing the real reason behind the untimely cancellation of “The Flower Shop,” in 1986.” It’s a direct-to-video mockumentary in the style of “Where Are They Now?” mashed up with Tom and Francie’s attempt to recepature the old magic, as they were.

Now, this video was released in 2005, but the screen size format belies that … certainly this thing was made well before that.  Also, the video quality screams “Circuit City Closeout VHS Camera”.  Thirdly, the characters themselves allude to the fact that their previous show, “The Flower Shop” (which aired in 1986), went off the air a decade ago.  There are also visual clues to the time period when this may have been filmed — an electric typewriter, no cell phones … although this may have been deliberate by the writer/director/co-star … but I don’t think he was that clever. (poor dope.)

So what we have here is a movie auteur‘s attempt to make his own movie with his buddies.  The “old show” clips are kind of a scream, complete with costumes straight from a defunct children’s theater troupe, music lyrics about diversity that will make your skin crawl, and cardboard scenery good enough to chew through.  The puppets, on the other hand, are actually quite good:

“If I had a mouth, I’d introduce you to Forgetful Elephant, and Purple Nurple back there!  Thank you, Cincinnati!  Good night!”

Hey, I had fun watching this one.  But then I am a life-long member of the Sesame Street committee. On the other hand, I never knew what contribution Zoom! had to the world of children’s television besides Ubbi Dubbi.