IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD SHOW

Official Selection, 2019 New York Asian Film Festival

In cahoots with the mob, a TV executive for Crazy TV plots to run down the station’s ratings so it can be acquired for dirt cheap by gangsters. And so he fires everyone and replaces them with the most incompetent crew zero budget can buy. But the lack of production budget somehow inspires this ragtag crew more, leading them to think up desperately crazy show ideas that turn Crazy TV into a surprise hit. Stumped by the sudden success of the newly re-invented news-meets-variety-show genre, the executive tries everything in his power to ensure his wire transfer. Going to ever greater lengths, the crew meets every new obstacle with a better, brighter, and somehow more ridiculous idea than the last.

From a strange Yakult-sponsored children’s show with fainting bunnies, to a horror-inspired segment that includes teaching the audience how to dance like Michael Jackson, director Hsieh Nien-Tsu throws together a zany, off-the-wall, and sweetly sincere depiction of the madhouse that is TV production. Featuring lovable underdogs, enduring backstories, and even a little romance, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD SHOW proves with every absurd baseball reenactment and cartoon-esque depiction of gangsters, that passion really does overcome all.

–Aleya Zenieris