Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 80
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 24
Boasting no big-name stars, Series 7 is surprisingly well-acted. Its timing is impeccable, with its dark humor casting shadows over the enjoyment and popularity of today's reality-TV shows.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 7
Boasting no big-name stars, Series 7 is surprisingly well-acted. Its timing is impeccable, with its dark humor casting shadows over the enjoyment and popularity of today's reality-TV shows.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 5,686
My Rating
Movie Info
The "reality TV" craze is taken to its final, logical extreme as six people hunt each other down in a small town for the benefit of network TV cameras in this darkly comic satire. "The Contenders" is a top-rated television game show in which six contestants are set loose in the same Connecticut community, with orders to kill or be killed; the last of the six who is still alive is declared the winner. As "The Contenders" goes into its seventh season, Dawn (Brooke Smith) is a two-time champion who
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Cast
-
Brooke Smith
Dawn -
Glenn Fitzgerald
Jeff -
Marylouise Burke
Connie -
Richard Venture
Franklin -
Merritt Wever
Lindsay -
Nada Despotovich
Michelle -
Donna Hanover
Sheila -
Danton Stone
Bob -
Jennifer Van Dyck
Laura -
Tanny Mc Donald
Dawn's Mother -
Will Arnett
Narrator
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All Critics (95) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (24) | DVD (10)
A gritty, disturbing and very funny satire that points the finger as much at its audience as those who make 'reality TV.'
Top CriticThe so-called jokes here have a cartoon stridency and drop with a thud. None of them is deep or lasting.
Clever.
Series 7 is clever, hip filmmaking, admirable for its tenacious faithfulness to the world it creates.
'Reality' notwithstanding, the performances in this film are uniformly good, and Brooke Smith as Dawn is better than that.
It really is the next logical step in reality TV . . . kill them all, and let the Nielsons sort 'em out.
...takes an intriguing topic but essentially beats it to death over the course of about 90 minutes...
Frazzled and edgy, Smith invests Dawn with the required measure of world-weariness and, crucially, she never succumbs to the temptation to slide into flippant, mocking territory.
Absolutely relentless in its bashing of the American public and what we consider entertainment.
Kill-or-be-killed reality-TV satire is uneven -- and unforgettable.
Suffers from the same problems that the "reality" television shows it satires suffer from.
Audience Reviews for Series 7: The Contenders
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Dawn: What did they call me on the news the other day? Killer Momma?
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- Narrator: Sudden death overtime! Can Jeff really change from an ex-gay pacifist to a fierce contender? Does he have the guts to do battle with Dawn? And get the job done?
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Foreign Titles
- Series 7 (DE)
- Series 7 (CA)
