AllMovie

Action Family is an episode of "The Cinemax Comedy Experiment" anthology series written by and starring Chris Elliott as a Private Investigator named Chris Elliot who is juggling work and home life. The show's overarching theme is that it is in fact two shows in one, and has sudden dramatic tonal shifts that affect everything from the way the characters act to the type of cameras used. His home and family life are a parody of a late 1970s/early 1980s saccharine multicamera sitcom shot on cheap 3 walled sets with an audience that often loudly comments on the action. When he goes to work as a hard boiled PI, the show switches tones entirely to dark, gritty, and violent, the camera switches to film stock, and the audience laughter vanishes. Regardless of which tone the show is taking at the moment, the action and dialogue is all completely absurd, and everything that happens is heightened for comedic effect or to service a joke or gag. Though there is a thin murder mystery plot, it takes a back seat to the comedy, and is eventually brought to a completely nonsensical conclusion. The show ends with the family dressed as the Partridge Family lip syncing to a Partridge Family song.