MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Karma’ Skewers Yuppies Nicely

There are countless young people trying to make their mark in the motion picture and television industries who will identify with the Angst -ridden hero of “Instant Karma” (Regent, Westwood), yet what fledgling writer-producers Bruce A. Taylor and Dale Rosenbaum have to say applies to every yuppie on the make.

A modestly budgeted independent venture picked up by MGM/UA, “Instant Karma” can’t be expected to have the incisiveness and polish of a “Network,” but it has substance and rigor and unfolds with a wit and insight that holds attention and commands respect. Film school alumnae Taylor and Rosenbaum, and their feature-debuting director, Roderick Taylor,--a TV veteran who is also a poet, singer and composer; he is heard effectively on the soundtrack--are off to a solid start on the big screen.

Refreshingly, their film is not another saga of show-biz struggles but a parable on the perils of illusory early success. Writer-producer Zane Smith (Craig Sheffer) would seem to have it all--at least for the moment: a TV series that’s among the top 10, a luxurious home in the Hollywood Hills and a brand-new bright red Mercedes convertible. The house and the car, of course, aren’t paid for, and as for the series, it’s not exactly what Zane had originally envisioned.

What Zane has ended up giving the network is something called “Rock ‘n’ Roll P.I.,” in which the lead actor, known simply as Reno (David Cassidy), is a rock star by night and a private eye by day. His sidekick is his foster father (William Smith), a retired cop. Zane is too smart not to feel he’s hit it big more by luck than talent and has a tough time telling himself he hasn’t sold out. Making matters worse, he’s up for an IRS audit, his girlfriend has left him, and Reno, deep into a coke habit, is becoming increasingly egomaniacal. The only bright spot on Zane’s horizon is a beautiful aspiring young actress (Chelsea Noble), uncomplicated and down-to-earth.

The filmmakers are at their most assured and sophisticated in the “Rock ‘n’ Roll P.I.” sequences. The series concept is meant to strike you as ludicrous, but glimpses of it persuade that it could actually go over on TV. This is very fine-tuned satire, with Cassidy a scene-stealer as the thoroughly rotten Reno, smarmy on camera and nasty off, and Smith amusing as his long-suffering co-star.

What makes the film work, however, is Sheffer, who is also the film’s co-executive producer. He is able to show us the underlying decency in Zane, whose self-absorption borders on the total and whose immaturity is considerable. Foiling Zane with an increasingly nagging conscience is Glenn Hirsch’s sharp, on-the-button portrayal of his cynical writing partner, who says of writing for TV that it “doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad, just as long as you get the bread.”

That’s a remark that could never be applied to “Instant Karma” (rated R for sex and language), which probably won’t make much money--it has no hard action, big names or high gloss--but was made with a caring integrity.