This movie is based on Cyra McFadden's 1977 satire on residents of Marin County, California who allow themselves to be shaped by every fad coming down the pike including women's lib, vegetarianism, hot tubs, oriental sex techniques, and the like. Screenplay writers Rich Eustis and Michael Elias have only partially caught the bite of the original work; nonetheless the film is energetic and humorous in its own right.
Martin Mull and Tuesday Weld decide to go their separate ways because they have a "negative family dynamic." While their daughter (Jennifer McAlister) joins a San Francisco cult called the Church of Christian Oriental harmony, Mull tries living with a blossomy vegetarian whom he then ditches for his orgy-prone secretary. Tuesday Weld makes it with a dog groomer and then joins a commune. Eventually Mull convinces his wife and daughter to rejoin him in a more traditional family unit.
The film contains clever performances by Bill Macy as a straight-arrow executive who turns hippie, Sally Kellerman as a with-it fanatic who tries everything, and Pamela Bellwood as a nymphomaniac who finds out she's a lesbian. Peter Bonerz is the heavy in the story — a pop therapist who dispenses drugs and platitudes with abandon. The satire here operates on only one level and tends to pale midway through the story. Still Serial is a whimsical commentary on the burdens of always trying to stay up-to-date.