Series 7: The Contenders

Written and directed by Daniel Minahan; director of photography, Randy Drummond; edited by Malcolm Jamieson; music by Girls Against Boys; production designer, Gideon Ponte; produced by Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente, Christine Vachon and Katie Roumel; released by USA Films. This film is rated R. Cast: Brooke Smith (Dawn), Marylouise Burke (Connie), Glenn Fitzgerald (Jeff), Michael Kaycheck (Tony), Richard Venture (Franklin) and Merritt Wever (Lindsay). This movie depicts a "reality-based TV show" where six contestants from around America are given guns and followed around by a cameraman. Their mission? To be the last person alive to win the big prize. The central character, Dawn (Brooke Smith), is the returning champion, who has a particular reason to win this year: she's pregnant.

Join the Discussion Have you seen this movie? Post to the Forum     Related Resources • Now Playing • Film Titles    Elsewhere on the Web • OnVideo Release Calendar • MovieFone Movie Times • Online Movies

Official Site

The New York Times
The movie says the American viewing audience will swallow anything; we might as well be the vacant droolers who watched similar spoofy shows that could be glimpsed in the first "Robocop."

Mr. Showbiz
Of course, the scariest thing about Daniel Minahan's satire of reality TV is that it doesn't seem so far-fetched. With entertainment industry strikes looming, there's an abundance of opportunities for everyone to get their 15 minutes of televised fame, and viewers seem to salivate most when these good upstanding citizens must pummel or embarrass each other to make it to sweeps week (think Survivor, Temptation Island, The Mole).