The plot revolves around a fictitious Onion television news anchorman, Norm Archer, who is forced to face the inevitability of a corporate takeover by the Onion's perennial fictitious multinational, Global Tetrahedron. Onion news is described as "fair and balanced" in the context of the film. The plot serves as a springboard for various comedy sketches featuring The Onion's satirical humor. Vignettes include parodies of music videos reminiscent of Britney Spears' work, and Steven Seagal appearing as a parody of the type of action hero he normally portrays. The film is interrupted by film reviewers and commentators weighing in on the progress of the film, with one commentator preparing to stage an immediate walkout of all African American audience members unless a positive portrayal of an African American is inserted into the film.
In 2003, New Regency Productions and Fox Searchlight Pictures were on board to produce and release a movie written by The Onion staff. Tentatively titled The Untitled Onion Movie, it was to be directed by music video directorTom Kuntz and Mike Maguire and written by then Onion editor Robert Siegel and writer Todd Hanson with the rest of the Onion staff. After delays and previews to test audiences, the film was shelved and eventually dropped by Fox. New Regency Productions continued on with the project. In a March 15, 2007 interview, Scott Aukerman said that the Onion movie was at a "dead standstill". Additionally, Onion, Inc. President at the time, Sean Mills, indicated The Onion was no longer associated with the film project. In August 2007, the IMDb listing was restored. In November 2007, then-President Sean Mills told Wikinews that the movie was a dead project. Although Fox Searchlight had an option to release it on DVD, there was no immediate announcement of plans to do so. Eventually, the trailer appeared on the DVD for The Darjeeling Limited. The trailer also appeared on the Hitman, Charlie Bartlett and DVDs. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Onion Movie DVD on June 3, 2008. The UK release's packaging styles the film News Movie, a.k.a. The Onion Movie.
Critical reception
The Onion's own non-satirical entertainment website The A.V. Club did not review the film. The site's film criticNathan Rabin explicitly declined to review the film for his "Dispatches from Direct to DVD Purgatory" feature on poor-quality direct-to-DVD films because he wished to avoid a conflict of interest.
