This light-hearted spoof of network television shows contains the seed of greatness: the teenage star (Estevez) of “2020 Zipper Place” is interviewed by a muckraking talk-show host (Glover) who is determined to deflate his image. Shadows of the Rob Lowe scandal surface when the host uses a privately made videotape to blackmail the star into sex.

So what doesn’t quite work? Primarily the casting – and I understand the director’s quandary. Glover is perfect as the sleazy host, but Estevez just doesn’t look the part of a teenage actor. On the other hand, Estevez handles the dialog exceptionally well. Gunther, who looks the part of a teenage idol, would probably have reduced the dialogue to mince meat. So Lucas opts for the actor who can talk the part rather than look it. The results are not entirely satisfactory, but the effort deserves praise – in spite of its limitations, this tape is definitely above the industry standard.