Surviving Eden

Surviving Eden *1/2

"Surviving Eden" is a "daring" satire that takes on the subject of reality television. Doesn't sound very daring. It's a subject that was seen earlier this year with "American Dreamz," except that was told in a different way, "Surviving Eden" uses the good ol' method of the mockumentary, which for some reason, never impresses me. And it casts some very funny people, with a not very funny script, which is simply a recipe for disaster.

"Surviving Eden" is the name of a reality television show, somewhat like "Survivor." Where a group of people live in a large garden for three months. They have to use nature as clothing, resulting in many cases of censorship when the show is on the air. There is a new batch of contestants, including Dennis Flotchky, a 320 pound man who is only on the show because of a prank that his best friend and roomate, Sterno, played on him. Sterno secretly filmed his friend, and sent in a tape to the people that pick contestants. Dennis is a kind, warm hearted man, and hopes that on the show he meets a nice woman. And he finds someone he is interested in, with Sister Agnes O'Malley, who is on the show to try and raise money for the church. Three months later, it is the final episode, and all that is left in the garden of Eden is Dennis, Agnes, and the self-absorbed Maria Villanova. Dennis becomes the winner, and had survived Eden. However, Dennis has changed. Not only has he lost alot of weight, but he begins to hang out with different people, and doing things that he never would have considered doing before. And its all because he got Maria pregnant, and now he has to sit down and start a family. But the money is going to Maria's head, and she gets the idea of doing a reality show about Dennis, a reality show winner. And that is when Sterno and Agnes are left in the dust, as Dennis enters the world of fame, and leaves his real friends behind.

The problem here is that there is nothing original at all. There is no twist in this entire story that I didn't guess before it was revealed. It isn't boring, but it just isn't fresh. And as for the satire, there was no controversial idea presented that was worthy of any satire. It was pretty straight. And it's a shame this didn't work, because there is a nice group of people. Michael Panes as Dennis is someone I never heard of before, but he does the part well, making us feel compassion for Dennis. And then there's mockumentary vetern Jane Lynch, who is constantly in those Christopher Guest movies that I hate so much. And Cheri Oteri, of Saturday Night Live fame. Peter Dinkage, the biggest small actor around is the best of the bunch, and this is just more proof that he should be hired more. I guess "The Station Agent" wasn't enough to show that this guy can act, and not only that but he's hilarious. 'Surviving Eden" has potential, but it's downfall is that it doesn't bother saying anything unique. It needed something more than a little humor. It needed to be daring. But the odds of anyone really seeing this, especially with it's tiny tiny release is slim. After all, when I saw it, I was the only person in the theatre. . .