If anyone were to actually see actor, co-writer, and director Donal Lardner Ward's unreleasable comedy The Suburbans, it would stand a reasonable chance of single-handedly squashing the terrible threat of '80s revivalism. A hollow This Is Spinal Tap knock-off for the VH1 set, the film chronicles the reunion tour of an early-'80s one-hit-wonder pop band (blandly played by Ward, Craig Bierko, Will Ferrell, and Tony Guma) championed by enthusiastic talent scout Jennifer Love Hewitt. The ironies crash with a thud from the flashback prologue, in which the four are shown in their prime on American Bandstand predicting that no one will be interested in music and images coming together. More stale gags follow, many based on the band being out of touch (Ward apologizes when Hewitt calls him "the bomb") and unhip (they're not "on the list" for their own record-release party), while others take desperate jabs at Kenny G and The Godfather. Only an improvised cameo appearance by Jerry and Ben Stiller as bottom-line record executives liven up the proceedings. Best known for collaborating with Eric Schaeffer (If Lucy Fell, Fall) on their abysmal indie breakthrough My Life In Turnaround, Ward shares his partner's anxious tendency to have all the characters speak in zingers. His excruciating spats with wife Amy Brenneman sound less like a marriage than an eternal comedy routine performed for the benefit of an invisible and deeply apathetic audience. Made without the faintest spark of inspiration, The Suburbans feels like a buried, unholy relic from the era it's purportedly satirizing.