This is your classic "small-town gets a big break" story, complete with local color adjusting to being in the worldwide spotlight. It's thankfully understated in all respects, and even the local mayor who in a lesser film would be the stock bad guy turns out to be just as kindly and overwhelmed by events as the offbeat crew that mans the satellite thingy. Acting across the board is quite good, and a strong reminder that while most stars are incapable of a real moment, hundreds of lesser-known actors can bring reality and humanity to even the silliest throwaway scenes. The film is marred only by its excessive use of overplayed '60s "greatest hits" like "Classical Gas" and "C'mon People" (or whatever the hell that hideous Janis Joplin song is called … oh, it's The Youngbloods? Well, who cares, you fucking baby boomer). It's intended to get the feel of the era, but totally unnecessary. There must be plenty of songs from the 60s that could have gotten the point across and been a lot cooler and far less grating. That and the endless series of montages of the dish over various audio communications between NASA and the astronauts lend a slightly cheesy element to what could have been a better, savvier film. It also features a deeply cheesy bookend featuring an old Sam Neill visiting the dish for no explained reason whatsoever. Incidentally, the old man makeup is easily the most convincing I can recall (remember Chaplin? Waaaay better than Chaplin). But the climactic scene when the moonwalk takes place during an unexpected windstorm that threatens to tear the dish apart is distinctly interesting, and yet it consists primarily of reaction shots of various people simply watching the moonwalk on TV, throughout the town and across the world. It's an unexpected tribute to the power of TV to bring people together to witness great (or sometimes horrible) events, and how a few people in a backwater town were the instruments of that unity. As corny as it is, The Dish is quite a cute little diversion. It'll probably bring a few effortless smiles to your face, despite the pained grimacing you're used to from the cancer peppering your intestines.
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