While the idea would certainly seem to hold promise for interesting social commentary, the script by Ron McGee lacks the necessary bite, as does the rote direction of Ron Oliver.
Comment
08/14/06
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Shock to the System (2006)
50
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:8
Fresh:4
Rotten:4
Average Rating:5/10
Theatrical Release:Aug 4, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: When hard boiled private eye Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) finds his latest client dead, an apparent suicide, Albany's favorite gay detective smells a rat and decides to take matters into his own... [More]
Starring: Chad Allen, Sebastian Spence, Michael Woods, Morgan Fairchild
Director: Ron Oliver
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Reviews for Shock to the System
1 - 8 (sorted by source)
Where film noir is often punch-drunk with a jab of snappy patter and a left hook of world-weary cynicism, Shock tries to clinch with understanding.
08/03/06
This is a sly, refreshingly grown-up gay entertainment, though rather less satisfying as a thriller.
08/04/06
It's certainly a pleasant enough way to kill 90 minutes.
08/05/06
Pity there was no room for Phyllis Diller or Carol Channing here, because then the film might have had a leg up on Scooby-Doo and the Creepy Castle.
07/16/06
Were it not for the fact that the hero and many of the major supporting characters are gay this breezy, disposable film could as easily have been a mainstream network pilot for a McMillan and Wife-style series.
08/04/06
A perfectly respectable second entry in the saga of gay private eye Donald Strachey.
07/27/06
Top Critic... director Ron Oliver applies a thin veneer of straight-to-cable pseudo-gloss without finding a workable tone, and the cast lacks the charisma and chemistry to make the genre and gender-bending register as more than novelty.
08/02/06
Top Critic1 - 8 (sorted by source)
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