At Home with the Webbers

Reality television is hardly a 21st century concept. Whether we're talking "Queen for a Day," "American Family," or "The Real World," it's long been known that normal people will turn into complete buffoons if given the opportunity to appear on television. There's a handful of films that exploit the subject ("Ed TV," "The Truman Show," "I-See-You.com," the "Rocky Horror" spin-off "Shock Treatment, etc.") but one that's flown under the radar nearly altogether is "At Home with the Webbers." Made in 1992 (the same year "The Real World" debuted) and released on video in 1994 (several sites claim the movie was made for cable TV but I can't find any proof that it aired prior to 1995) it seems "The Webbers" was destined to merely gather dust on video shelves. I suppose that's not much of a surprise considering the movie's too off-kilter for mainstream audiences...

The Webbers are a dysfunctional but typical American family. Father Gerald (Jeffrey Tambor) is a befuddled psychiatrist. Mother Emma (Rita Taggart) is a bored housewife. Son Johnny (David Arquette) has become completely preoccupied with death. Daughter Miranda (Jennifer Tilly) is a sculptor who has a strange fascination with male genitalia. One day the Webbers are approached by a sleazy TV executive (Robby Benson) who offers them the opportunity to appear on their own network, and it's an offer that's too good for the family to refuse. However, once they become comfortable with the cameras, they become too comfortable and find themselves doing outrageous things for the sake of fame. Dad flips his lid, mom happily becomes a celebrity housewife, sister becomes a raving slut... and brother tries his best to shun the entire production.

I'm not gonna lie and say it's a perfect film. The pace is a little too slow, there's an unevenness between the comedy and drama and some of the jokes totally miss the mark. However, Jennifer Tilly is a particular delight as she devours the scenery and some of the film's weirder plots (involving making a perfect man and a character leading a color-coded life), Gerald's insane patients, Johnny's moroseness and a completely out of the blue narcissistic production number gain this one a "cult oddity" stamp across it in a big, bold font.

The film was released on VHS and laserdisc but has never been issued on DVD. However, it has surfaced on Hulu and other online video sites.