Serial (1980)

It's the 1970s and life in trendy Marin County (across the bay from San Francisco) finds its upper class gentry engaged in new age conscious raising, health foods, getting stoned on pot, feminist brunches and sexual freedom among other things. Based on Cyra McFadden's THE SERIAL: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF MARIN COUNTY, I don't know if it helps to have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area or know Marin County during this time to appreciate how spot on the film is in its attitudes of the Marin lifestyle. I did and oh so many memories come flooding back. Can I be objective in discussing the film? I think so. It tries to do for Northern California what BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE did so acutely for L.A. in the 1960s. It's simply not as good as Paul Mazursky's sharply observed satire but if the film feels like a sitcom at times, it still manages to hit its intended targets most of the time. Its cast is rich with comic talent from Martin Mull's sexually frustrated husband to Christopher Lee's weekend gay biker to Nita Talbot's high strung wife though the biggest laugh came when Mull complained about gas being over a dollar! Directed by Bill Persky. With Tuesday Weld, Sally Kellerman, Tom Smothers, Barbara Rhoades, Bill Macy and Pamela Bellwood (TV's DYNASTY).