Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

thriftymoviecritic There are so many films in the Direct to Video market that is just utter garbage, but there are a few movies that are a diamond in the rough. Lip Service is a fantastic film about the music industry as well as a decent Romantic Comedy.The plot of the movie is about a record producer named Roger (Peter Outerbridge) is asked to produce a record for an up and coming super star named Sunni (Kari Wuhrer). The issue is that Sunni may be one of the worst singers around so Roger needs to find a way to cover up her voice. He finds a soccer mom named Maggie (Gail O'Grady) in a bar and gets her to do the vocals. Sunni becomes an instant superstar while Maggie does not get any recognition. At the end of the film Maggie ends up being the star and Sunni is no longer famous.The humor of the film is very campy, but it uses that to its advantage. At the end of the film Roger asks his friend Buddo (Jerry Ciccoritti) for help to mute Maggie's tracks during Sunni's debut concert. Roger uses one of the funniest lines ever conceived in my opinion to get Buddo to help: "She baked you cookies." Buddo has a montage of Maggie giving him a cookie and he accepts Roger's proposal to take down Sunni. The line itself is funny, but the montage is the icing on the cake or the chocolate chip on the cookie.The Romance between Maggie and Roger was very unique in my opinion. It is not your tradition Romantic Comedy where the two leads eventually fall in love and live happily ever after. It is a Traditional Romance in the real world from my perspective. Maggie and Roger have great romantic chemistry together, but they never act upon it. Roger did kiss Maggie and she fantasized about him while cleaning the house, but apart from that they never acted on their emotions towards one another. At the end of the film Roger is caught in a sex romp with Sunni and ends up being single while Maggie is still happily married. The romance in this film reminded me of Once, but on a less bittersweet note. In Once I wanted the two leads to be together, but I knew it was impossible. In Lip Service I was fine with Roger and Maggie never getting together.Lip Service was surprisingly a fantastic film. I found it in a dollar rack in a Dollar General. I thought it was going to be a campy version of Showgirls, but I liked this film a lot more than I thought I would have. If you have a chance to find a copy of this movie you will not be disappointed.For the full review go to my site: http://www.thriftymoviecritic.com/reviews-1-5.html

howie73 I enjoyed this film more than I thought but I was also annoyed by some aspects of it. The protagonist, Roger Deacon, is the main problem. The problem lies not with the actor Peter Outerbridge but with the way he is portrayed. This is the man who betrayed his naive and shy forty-something Martha Stewart look-a-like protégée, Maggie Stanley, by gaining her trust then letting her think she cannot have a recording contract because he is committed to promoting the talentless, Sunni, the mistress of a powerful record company boss to whom Peter is indebted. When Peter redeems himself for Maggie at the end it feels a bit contrived and hollow, as if Peter's hypocrisy can be absolved by an act of honesty. But by also exposing a talentless Sunni in public he humiliates another woman, all for the sake of exposing a truth he chose to conceal as a ruse in the first place. Thank heavens we can sympathize with Maggie, a passive housewife too shy to make a fuss even when she realizes she has been conned by Peter. The music is quite good for a TV movie in spite of the mismatch between Maggie and her supposed voice. The only thing that puzzled me was the fact Maggie only recorded 3 tracks for Sunni's album. The ending was a little abrupt though, and more could have been said about the appearance/reality theme. Yet there were many sharp lines satirizing the superficial values of the record company world.

backdoor_romeo That's about the only good thing I can say about this sapball, cornfest. One thing of interest, seeing as this is supposed to be a feel-good movie in the end, is that it's actually a very mean-spirited movie...I was disappointed how Kari Wuhrer (did I mention she was babelicious, as she always is?) was treated in the end, when she did nothing to deserve the treatment she got, when in fact all hurt feelings and snickering should have went towards the record industry, instead of her. But I digress.This is TV movie of the week stuff, with bad acting, bad plot and an unbelievable Hollywood ending. No points to VH1 for this one, folks. It's pretty lame.See it only for Kari, who I'd chop off my middle finger to be with (if you know what I mean)... Otherwise, avoid.

Hermit C-2 This TV flick doesn't live up to music channel VH1's claim of "movies that rock." The idea was good, but both the script and the execution are pedestrian. The whole thing comes off about as compelling as an old Milli Vanilli track, and as forgettable. The singing of Kari Wuhrer's character is so bad it's an insult to the audience, as if we couldn't tell otherwise. Wuhrer does manage to get us to laugh a time or two, though. Once again we're treated to the spectacle of movie characters going gaga over songs and singing that really aren't that great. On top of that, the ending is unbelievably Hollywood-corny. This film wastes the talent of those in it and wastes the time of those watching.