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The
movie opens with two people named (as you can see up there) Mr.
and Mrs. Bob Joel. And apparently they're someone's parents.
Hmmm... Mrs. Joel is the talker of the family and goes on to
tell about a letter she got from their son. Mr. Joel is the strong
silent type, saying only a few words here and there.
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Mrs.
Joel falls apart as she reads the letter from her son. "He
starts off, 'Mom and Dad. I'm fine. How are you?' " Then
she starts sobbing. "My son! Even when he was fine he wanted
to know how we were!" |
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| The
beginning of "Reality" leads us into a (sort of) animated
title. |
From
there we move on to a slow pan of a very messy room, filled with
straw, posters, huge clown shoes, and a milk carton telling us
about a missing person. As we pan, we hear a very familiar voice
reading the lyrics of "Reality" over an instrumental
version of the song. It's Phil, who's writing the aforementioned
letter to his parents. He's tickled by the fact that his letter
rhymes.
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After
getting yelled at to bring out shoes and the dog, Phil turns
to his only companion in this room: the dog. Phil talks the dog
into licking the envelope for him. If Phil gets paid next week,
he'll even be able to afford a stamp!
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Phil
offers his furry friend their last hotdog, cooked over a candle's
flame. "Heads or tails?" he asks the pooch. |
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| But
as Phil chews, he hits upon something rather disgusting. After
choking a little, he pulls a big hunk of something gross and
S-shaped out of his mouth. He says to the dog, "I thought
I gave YOU the tail!" |
And
now we go to a rockin' Newsboys show. Various creatures crowd
surf by, including a gorilla, a chicken, and this fish! And what
song does the band just HAPPEN to be playing? Why... Reality,
of course!
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As the
song continues, we see that it's describing circus-runaway Phil's
life pretty well. Here's the clown with the knife...
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...and
I doubt I have to tell you what this is depicting. |
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| Meanwhile, the band
continues, including Kevin Mills, their pre-Phil bassist. |
And now another
interview segment, this time with the prez of Star Song (their
label before Sparrow), who tells us that the band just disappeared
with no phone calls, nothing! "Let me tell you, that hurt."
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After the show,
John pauses while being greeted backstage with a gift basket.
He things of events earlier that day...
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Events which included
Wes and Steve Campbell, oddly enough. ;-) |
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John's in a hospital,
visiting a man who speaks only Italian. He beckons John closer.
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Gary Chapman provides
a translation for John as the man speaks. |
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| The man's wife (who
speaks English with an Italian accent) is quite upset. |
John refers to the
man as "Uncle Luigi." Uncle Luigi goes on to talk about
John's life. "I had such high hopes for you. I raised you
after the death of your parents. You were the last of the bloodline,
but your heart was not in it. You ran away. You became a Newsboy.
You've disgraced the family by deserting your destiny. Look at
you now. You dress like a figure skater." Uncle Luigi begs
John to do "the bus-driver joke" one last time. With
a squished face, John asks the bus-driver to open the door please.
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Uncle Luigi also
asks for "the spaceman." But all silliness aside, Uncle
Luigi is concerned. He owes a great deal of money, but everyone
but a handful of workers has left what was once his great circus.
He begs John to put on one last show. "One last wing-ding."
Everything is booked. He just needs to fulfill his destiny and
pay back the creditors. "Dica sì!!!" he demands
of his nephew, which means "Say yes!"
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John says, "Well,
uh, we'll see." But all his uncle hears is "sì."
He dies with a huge grin on his face. And John is left with a
major task ahead of him. Meanwhile, the nurse wants to know which
clown short-sheeted the bed. |
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| John snaps out of
his flashback and tells Peter about the debt and the promise
he inadvertently made to his uncle. They fight over who has to
tell the rest of the band. But someone's missing... "Any
of you guys seen Kevin?!" |
Jody informs them
that he's quit. "That's three bass players in six months!"
"At least he waited until a break in the schedule, eh? Sean
quit in the middle of his own solo." "What a wally."
After some discussions about what deodorant Peter's using ("Secret."
"Ah, come on, you can tell me!"), John decides that
maybe the circus is a time for them to learn "about faith,
about hope, about love."
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| Duncan doesn't seem
impressed. |
Jody doesn't seem
impressed. |
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| Jeff doesn't seem
impressed. |
John is sure that
they just need to commit themselves to three things: hard work,
fervent prayer, and false advertising.
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| The band, including
Duncan, gets after him about the "false advertising"
portion. John is adamant that he actually said fall advertising,
but Peter declares "That don't even make any sense! This
is springtime!" "But," John tells him, "in
Australia it's fall." John says he can PROVE that he said
fall advertising. |
And with that he
gets out a remote control, rewinds the movie, and what do you
know? He really did say fall advertising! |