Customer Reviews

Lip Service

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I liked this movie--good plot, good acting and Kuri Wuhrer nude--what else do you need? She doesn't have a voice and she plays the part of one stupid singer who can't sing rather well--but she is good at it. The other actors are good also, especially the one with the voice--she is one good singer and she is beautiful. The plot is great and easy to follow. This is one B movie to watch!!!!

(Spoiler Alert!)

This made-for-TV feature is about a producer/songwriter named Roger "Deac" Deacon who is quite gifted, yet coming out of a drug/alcohol-adled losing streak and a housewife/mother named Maggie Stanley with a golden voice, golden hair, a troubled family life and a more-than-mild case of stage fright.

The story starts with Deac (portrayed by Peter Outerbridge) trying to find the right match for new material he's written to end his losing streak. He's approached by an entertainment mogul named Sidney Golden ((Harvey Atkin) to write and produce the debut album by a new face-with-an-attitude named Sunni (Kari Wuhrer). Deac is disappointed to find she can't carry a tune in a cement mixer. In a slump, he goes to an Italian restaurant downstairs from his home studio and hears Maggie (Gale O'Grady) singing the Carpenters classic, "Rainy Days and Mondays" in a near-paralyzed state of fright. Deac is mesmerized and tells Maggie where to find him.

The next day, she gives Deac a call (though skeptical about his compliments of her singing) and ends up doing a take of the first song Sunni laid down. Eventually, Deac gets Maggie to record an album's worth of songs, then allows an associate named Lowell Levitt (Stewart Bick) to pass her voice off as Sunni's. The album is packaged, videos are made, and Sunni becomes a household name. Maggie can't convince anybody from her family (who she kept in the dark about recording the songs) that it's her voice and not Sunni's. She confronts Deac, his engineer named Buddo and Levitt about the conspiracy and gets doors slammed in her face. Levitt isn't interested in what Sidney will do if he learns his young client can't sing.

Her son, Josh Stanley (Serial Joe guitarist/vocalist Ryan Dennis) is trying to get his band's demo heard by the same people who package Sunni's album. After Josh gets a letter of rejection, he approaches Sunni at an autograph signing to give the music a listen, as well as giving a live show. Maggie knows Sunni's real nature and tries to win back her son's affection by signing Sunni's name to a thank you note. He doesn't trust his mother and buys a ticket to the upcoming concert. Meanwhile, Levitt gets Buddo to pilfer the master tapes so the fans will think Sunni is really singing.

Coming to his senses and willing to accept the consequences if Sidney finds out the truth, Deac manages to sneak himself and Maggie into the concert venue. Slipping past Levitt and cornering Buddo in the control room, Deac accosts his engineer for stealing the tapes and forces him to work with him in exposing Sunni for her inability to sing. Maggie is introduced as the real voice, and she overcomes her stage fright to give a wonderful, heartfelt performance. While Levitt is beside himself with rage, Sidney and Maggie's son Josh (both near the foot of the stage) are profoundly impressed with the performance.

For an epilogue, the film closes with the Josh Stanley Band (comprising the members of Serial Joe) in Deac's studio cutting the song from their demo with Maggie singing along with Josh. Her husband and daughter are there during the session.

When this movie was first aired on TV, it was called Out of Sync. It was given the title Lip Service for the DVD publication. The first couple of times I saw the movie, I remember tuning in to VH1 and picking it up partway through. I immediately knew it was like a backward version of the Milli Vanilli saga (along with Singing in the Rain). Ironically, Gale (better known for her role on NYPD Blue) was lip syncing to a singer named Karen LeBlanc. But, it's very convincing, since Karen's singing voice is similar in character to Gale's talking voice. And Kari Wuhrer really can sing; she was pointedly sounding as though she couldn't sing, here. It's definitely a movie worth watching, especially when you consider the ending, which showcases how much more emphasis is placed on image than musical prowess. Just ask Susan Boyle about that.

This is a very well acted and humorous movie I liked it very much. Kari wuhrer is delightful as a seductive bimbo, who by her relationship with a record mogul gets a chance at a singing career her problem is that she has no talent at all as a singer but yet thinks she's very talented as a singer. enter record producer roger duncan who has to make it all work out, when he stumbles upon Maggie stanley at a karaoke bar who has a great voice but is crowd shy he tells her he is a record producer and would very much like her to make a demo unbeknownst to maggie he dubbeds over Kari's voice with maggie's Kari(sunni)becomes a instant star maggie becomes pissed! what follows is hilarious because now sunni wants to perform live. since this would be a great embarrassment to all involved in the coverup. what follows is trickery and backstabbing, in short what follows is sunni's humiliation and maggie's vindication. This movie was well produced entertaining and funny which is very uncommon in a video of this sort.

I remember seeing this movie on tv when it air on vh1.
For a tv movie to my surprise I really liked it !
Kari Wuhrer is the star in this film.
She should of won awards for best actress on this movie.
Didn't know it came out on dvd until I found it at the drug store for 2 dollars.
Just couldn't say no.

Good movie. Kari Wuhrer is Sunni, a sexy and crazy girl who is taken and transformed into a famous singing sensation..who gains too much fame...too quickly. Very enjoyable to watch, and I can't get her song out of my head. Gail O'Grady is the true star, whose character learned some major lessons about the music industry and life. Also enjoyable to watch. Pretty women; searching for dreams to come true; the good and the evil sides of the music industry leading to larger lessons about life;...almost the same ingredients of "Coyote Ugly"?!!

As per the previous reviewer's inquiry as to who the singer in this movie was...it was (an actress herself) someone named "Karen Le Blanc". As far as I can tell there is no available soundtrack for this movie. Hope this helps......A very well done movie appreciated as I am a musician myself. Very good songs too.

I loved this movie when I saw it on VH1. It was called Out of Sync. They had to change the title since there was another movie of the same title it appears as I have been looking for this movie. I thought the movie was funny and helped me get over a little of my stage fright and the music is pretty good.

This movie was great!! I loved it!! I loved it so much that I want to find out where I can find the movie's music/soundtrack! I cannot find anywhere that sells a soundtrack. I would like know if someone can tell me who it is that is the voice behind Maggie (Gail O'Grady), the titles of all the songs and where I could find a list of the songs on the movie... and possibly the lyrics. I know the name of four of the songs:
*SATURDAY
*DESPERATE MEASURES
*IF LOVE COULD ONLY LIVE
*NAME OF LOVE

Could someone help me??

Top movie!! EXCELLENT!! ***** FIVE STARS!!!!!!!!

This is an outstanding movie. I have not seen the Lip Service version but rather saw the Out of Sync original, so there may be nudity in this one but the original was OK for older teens. A couple of bedroom scenes that you may not want to have to explain to youngsters but no actual nudity.

This movie was a lot of fun. My 60-something mother and 24-year old brother saw it together and enjoyed it thoroughly so there seems to be no generation gap. I enjoyed watching it with them even though I had already seen it so it also seems to be a movie you can watch several times.

Yeah, it's a B movie, but there are some wonderful things to point out. It was originally released on VH1 as "Out of Sync". I happened to catch it and all the cliche'd characters and catchy songs totally got me into it. Gail O' Grady is absolutely hot and her son in the movie (who's actually in the now defunct band, Serial Joe) reminds me of when I was young trying to find direction in music. For a TV movie it totally rocked and I could watch the ending song "If Love Could Only Live (Online)" a hundred times. From what I've found, that song was written and recorded by Kim Bingham with her band, "The Kim Band", but I haven't been able to find it...just a snippet from her website. As for Serial Joe and the movie soundtrack, there are no traces of it. If you haven't seen this movie, it's a real gem and comes with some great laughs...PLUS you can learn a thing or two on how to deal with your troublesome teenagers!!!