"Honor thy wife, and everyone else's."

One mellow movie about creative divorce, group jacuzzis, organically-fed mistresses, and therapeutic adultery.


There are no cliff-hanging moments in Serial, but there's plenty of laughs in this trenchant comedy comment on 1970s lifestyles. Martin Mull plays the father of a Marin County family that succumbs to every silly fad coming down the pike. Mull tries to distance himself from his family's idiocies, but it's always the man who pays the piper. The film, based on a collection of newspaper essays by Cyra McFadden, is neatly tied up with a Capraesque ending allowing Mull to finally prevail. Some of the best moments involves Mull's tiltings with his trend-happy neighbor Bill Macy

The film is framed visually by having the camera approach the setting from the clouds at the beginning, and returning to the clouds at the end, as well as plot-wise by means of parallel, but contrasting, open-air wedding scenes near the beginning and end.
The main theme song of the film, "It's a Changing World", was composed by Schifrin with lyrics by Norman Gimbel, and is sung during the credits by singer/songwriter Michael Johnson.
During the motorcycle trip to rescue Joanie, Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" plays in the background.
Certain scenes or lines have been included in presentations of this film on broadcast television (albeit with overall censorship applied), but are lacking on the commercial VHS tape (issued by Paramount Pictures Corp., 1989).
Amidst an abundance of plot twists, cultural references (e.g., Star Trek), and wacky situations and characters, the film contains many memorable lines, beginning with the wedding vows near the start.

Release Date: March 28, 1980


Distrib: Paramount


Boxoffice: $9,870,727 2013: $29,942,400