Pulpmovies Reviews

Veteran, and slightly slimy, news anchor, Dan Lake (Peter LaVilla) is on his way down. Although he’s trying to make the best of a bad deal, he’s been moved out of news and into light entertainment. Ms Gabby (Rosemary Gore) is a popular newspaper gossip columnist and she’s on her way up and looking for a break into TV.

When the two of them meet each other as co-hosts of a new chat show, Movie Celebrities, sparks fly.

Dan Lake may be on the way out, but he has an ego the size of a studio and is grimly determined to assert his seniority in any and every way he can. This ranges from demanding more time with the guests to insisting on his own make-up artist. Ms Gabby, who is far from a shrinking violet herself, is understandably more than a little aggrieved at the favouritism Dan is able to lever out of the studio and starts pushing for the equal treatment she’d initially expected.

This leads to an increasingly spiky relationship between the two and a series of – often petty – attempts at one-upmanship which steadily escalate and which, inevitably, overflow into the show itself.

There is a lot of set-up in this film and this does lead to it taking quite a while to get going. So much so that once the main characters had been established I did find that the film started to drag a little.

However, all this changed at about the 40 minute mark when Dan Lake and Ms Gabby start rehearsing for Movie Celebrities. Everything clicked; the characters rapidly settled into their roles, the film’s observation all came sharply into focus and I found myself laughing out loud.

From here on in, I found myself laughing, chortling and sniggering all the way to the credits.

The characters are well drawn and largely likeable. Rather than depend on stereotypes, writer/director Peter LaVilla has pulled together a talented cast and allowed them to develop the humour that emerges from their situation and the way they interact.

Although it could do with being about 10 minutes shorter, Oil & Water is an entertaining and well observed romantic comedy about the politics, and vanity, behind the production of a TV series.

The film had me laughing out loud increasingly as it progressed and left me, by the end, with a huge smile.

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