Road Lawyers and Other Briefs

This compilation of four shorts leads off with multiple award-winning title piece, a satiric takeoff on Mel Gibson's Mad Max character in The Road Warrior. Following the nuclear holocaust, lawyers cruise the deserted landscape searching not for gas, but caffeine, and trying to turn up clients in this barren wilderness. Confronting each other on the road, they do battle with a deadly barrage of No. 2 pencils. "Road Lawyers" effectively uses stop-motion animation to propel the Barcalounger riding lawyers in a good spoof. But for my money, the second piece in the collection is the best of the bunch. Entitled "Escape From Heaven," the story follows the tribulations of a nun who ends up in Purgatory (a jail, filled with holding cells), and who eventually "escapes" to Heaven (a bingo parlor). Strict Catholics are not liable to take too kindly to this insightful bit of fun poking, but most others will truly enjoy the lampoon. The third piece, "Radar Men on the Moon" is, by far, the weakest, dubbing new dialogue on to the old Commander Cody serial. The lines are almost entirely composed of uninspired adolescent clichés that would be right at home in Porky's. The last short, "Hairpiece,: is a wry and poignant look at a man who's hairline is receding, and the frantic attempts he makes to hide the fact, as an upcoming reunion with his college tennis chums approaches. Three out of four is not bad for a successful short compilation, so this is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)