Zoo Radio Reviews

The characters who inhabit ZOO RADIO have evolved from a successful species of generic comedy exemplified by NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE, PORKY'S and REVENGE OF THE NERDS. The basic elements are sex, beer, pranks and camaraderie, with plots little more than a chain of vignettes admixing them. Two brothers, owners of rival Los Angeles radio stations KWIN and KLST, are pitted against one another when their late mogul father bequeaths his $60 million estate to the station which, until the will kicks in, generates the most advertising revenue. The victor will own the loser, too. Enter the lowly, loony, cretinous crew of KLST, who claw their way from dead last in the ratings and ad dollars to within cookie-tossing distance of first. Their incentive is a cut of the loot. Billy Day (John Martin) is the eye of the storm. His strategic gambits are half-wit and all-heart; his on-air impressions are send-ups of blacks, Hasidic Jews, Asians, Sly Stallone and the FCC. (With a cut of treasure at stake, why observe social or airwave protocol?) Profanity is not beneath him, nor is making a fool of himself. His homemade rap ditties will convince no one he was born in East L.A., but the movie pretends that the boom-box army eats it up. His colleague and station manager, Frank (Douglas Means), fakes interviews with Brando; hosts a call-in sex advice show--and signs on many new accounts. KWIN raids the KLST offices and sabotages the transmitter during a party fueled by liquor illicitly charged to a wealthy matron's account. KLST is silent and useless to their new clients; the revenue gains just as quickly vanish. But, necessity being the mother of invention, the KLST crew determines to pad its schedule with nothing but talk and music. Billy provides ethnic humor with a rabbi who can't talk straight; Chester (Skylar Billings) is a blind DJ/cooking instructor; Frank and Billy conduct "celebrity" interviews. Their ratings skyrocket again; 100% commercial-free radio is the key to broadcast power. The upstart station even makes the evening TV news. Naturally, KWIN cringes when KLST goes "from worst to first." As the will's incept date nears, both stations engage in desperate tactics. KWIN's receptionist, Wendy, "wins" a KLST contest that provides a trip to the French alps with $50,000 and a hot man. On a blind date, he turns out to be--Billy Day. The rappin' radio rabbi is really Romeo. KWIN's offensive sends two "FCC" agents to KLST. Shut down for "code violations," KLST is once again silent. In the eleventh hour, Billy leads a "terrorist" takeover of KLST, which is heard live in L.A. The station gets publicity not even $60 million could buy. The last-minute switch of KWIN's largest account to rival KLST tips the slim balance in their favor. ZOO RADIO's crude gags do have a few belly-laugh charms. They are never overly sexist, seldom tasteless and lame. Several scenes are almost inspired, largely because the cast seems to be enjoying the meaningless, freestyle antics. While seldom hilarious and never ingenious, ZOO RADIO is an easy-over slob comedy with flashes of zany, humanist wit. It is about summed up by the frequent motif of an anonymous couple making tempestuous love in the back seat of a VW bug. (Adult situations.)