Delightful independent movie
Frances Y. Williams | South Burlington, VT United States | 09/04/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this movie the night it was sold to Warner Brothers. I was expecting a no budget indie, but when presidential hopeful Mike Dukakis and Monkees band member Peter and Brady Bunch mother Florence Henderson gushed about how they ran home every day in junior high school to watch Junior Defenders, I was intrigued. The stars kept gushing.
The 70s style TV editing make this mockumentary fun to watch. My favorite character is Ally Sheedy who plays a greedy former child star, now kidnapped to reenact her childhood role once again. (Kevin Smith, in an interview cameo, claims she inspired his inner woman.) All the main characters in this movie are played by actors who were genuine child stars, so the plot that the three abductees were child-stars is intriguing to watch. The times when the film shows it was on a shoestring budget ($125,000), like the cheesy Vampire Network talk show set, make the movie great fun to watch. Occasionally the film fails badly at some of the comedy, but I have the sneaky feeling that purchasers of this movie are a little tired of slick Hollywood comedy.
This movie is especially fun for people who recognize 1970s Hollywood faces, and there are dozens."