The concept sounds like the perfect setup: "Gone With the Wind" producer David O. Selznick, without a workable script and forced to shut down production, locks new screenwriter Ben Hecht and new director Victor Fleming in his office and demands they produce a new screenplay for
the film in five days. Clearly an impossible task, the three must battle personal demons, a dislike for each other, and a conviction that they
are on a path to certain failure. We, of course, know the ultimate outcome and can watch as a masterpiece
is created from the depths of certain destruction. Unfortunately, playwright Ron Hutchinson and director Lynne Meadow have created the disaster. They try for slapstick, but
nothing about the
production is humorous. They try for tragedy, but the only thing tragic about the characters is their involvement in this absurdly irrelevant effort. The performances, especially Matthew Arkin as Ben Hecht, seem like the best efforts of local theater company
actors in a small Midwestern town. "Moonlight and Magnolias" is a good idea gone adrift.
Jack Myers Entertainment Report's entertainment rating system is based on a maximum of five jacks and a minimum of zero jacks. 0 = awful; 1 = pretty bad; 2 = okay
but don't go out of your way to see it; 3 = reasonably good but not special; 4 = very good and worth paying
attention to; 5 = exceptional. Opinions are based on my own likes, dislikes and preferences.
