The Show tells the story of reality game show host, Adam Rogers (Josh Duhamel), after escaping near death, develops a show featuring live on-air suicides. One thing I’ve noticed is that the more known stars you have in an independent film, the more you increase its chances of the film not being good. The Show has a lot of stars.
The film centers around the creation of a television reality show, This is Your Death, that spotlights individual stories of tragedy and then each story ends with a live in-studio suicide by subject. The writer, Noah Pink, does a halfway decent job bringing plausibility to the show and how it might actually make it on reality television. But from the beginning, The Show is a showcase of over-the-top characters with no self-awareness, whatsoever, and tries to mix real dramatic moments with surreal satire.
“…spotlights individual stories of tragedy and then each story ends with a live in-studio suicide by subject.”
John Duhamel plays Adam Rogers, the host of a “Bachelor”-type reality show. Adam is almost killed with the losing bride kills the show’s groom. Adam has a front row to the horror and almost quits the business altogether, thanks to the fake nature of his show and reality television in general. Adam is grounded in the real world by his sister, Karina (Sarah Wayne Callies), who is his only family and a recovering drug-addict.
Before Adam can quit the business, he is confronted by the head of network programming, Ilana (Famke Janssen) who wants him to host a new reality show about suicide. Adam is at first angered by the idea but finds that good can come out of the show. The first example of good is during the shows first suicide, viewers can call in and donate money to the victim’s daughter. Adam is paired up with Sylvia (Caitlin FitzGerald), who is forced to produce the show, find contestants, or be in breach of her contract.
"…those movies you watch only because of how bad it is."
