Already commissioned for a second series on the strength of the first, Louis Theroux's Weird Weekend sees Michael 'TV Nation' Moore's English sidekick go trekking in search of America's fringiest fringe groups , armed only with a film crew and a specky, faux naïf manner. In the first two shows he looks deep inside the world of Born Again Christianity and Hardcore pornography respectively. In the third he introduces himself to gun-toting members of the patriotic militia.
This could easily be a case of another wise-ass TV trendy snickering behind his hand at an assortment of wackos. Theroux avoids these obvious pratfalls. While not going so far as to inform the subjects that the name of the documentary was to feature the words Weird Weekend, he establishes a trust with them by showing his willingness to participate in their worlds. With the porn people it means submitting a naked photo of himself to a porn agency, with the Born Again Christians this means strumming the guitar with a group of god-botherers as they attempt to convert passers-by in Dallas' Deep Ellum district.
By dint of an assuring English accent and an impeccably gentle manner, Theroux teases out the humanity from these unlikely sources. A rictus-smiling Born Again secretary, who seems to take a fancy to Theroux, reveals a past riven by drug abuse. Meanwhile who couldn't sympathise with JJ, an aspiring porn star, who is unable to maintain an erection during the filming of a climactic sequence? It's funny - but not risible. "I couldn't sleep at night if I felt I'd stitched up these people", says Theroux.
Much of what Theroux comes across is repulsive - like the guy who films rape fantasies - and
Louis is duly repulsed. But often these people are strangely touching, in their disaffection from the
social mainstream, their sincerity and, above all, in their all-American desire to be on TV.
David Stubbs
Taken from Vox Magazine, Feb 1998.
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