Out of Sync (2000)

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.

I like it. It seemed like a nice modern update of Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds) with Gail O'Grady in the Reynolds part. Add in a little "Milli Vanilli" to the theme and you have a good rendition of "Out of Sync".

In my opinion, this was an outstanding made-for-tv movie! I think Gail O'Grady and Peter Outerbridge were just perfect together and the only thing I would have changed is that Maggie would have dumped old-unsupportive Stan and gone with Deke where she belonged! These actors were perfect for these roles and the movie was a cute idea done very well! I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a couple of hours of pure escape! Good job VH1!

This movie was all standard tv movie. The acting not really there, and the plot did not develop with the characters. Like many TV movies this one had unfinished side-plots that either left the viewer wondering what happened or not really carring at all. The only part of this movie i liked was the fact that it was showing the real side of corprate manufactured music. All in all the movie was average (for a tv movie) nothing special and no 'breakthrough' acting.