FX’s “People v. O.J. Simpson” has the benefit of 20 years of perspective about the trial that riveted and divided America. “The O.J. Simpson Story,” which you can watch in its entirety above, had no perspective at all. It debuted in January 1995, just seven months after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, two months after the jury was sworn in and 10 long months before the not-guilty verdict arrived. Is it any good? Well. It’s directed by Alan Smithee, which isn’t a good sign. (“Alan Smithee” is the pseudonym used when directors don’t want credit for their work.
- 3/9/2016
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
Director: Stephen Greene; Screenwriters: Kristin Gore, Matthew Silverstein, Dave Jeser; Starring: Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Hader, Tracy Morgan; Running time: 100 mins; Certificate: 15
Be careful what you wish for. Abandoned due to financial reasons before production could be completed in 2010, Academy Award-winning director David O. Russell's Nailed has finally emerged in the form of Accidental Love. It's so irredeemably bad that even Alan Smithee wouldn't touch it. The directorial pseudonym of choice here is Stephen Greene, and the movie was completed without O'Russell's involvement or blessing.
The premise is an intriguing one and the cast is impressive, hence the understandable clamour for this abomination to be seen. It involves Jessica Biel's rollerskating waitress Alice receiving a nail to a head in a freak accident, causing her to have an increased sex drive that sways her hips away from her loser lover and thrusts her into the path of Jake Gyllenhaal's creepy Congressman.
Be careful what you wish for. Abandoned due to financial reasons before production could be completed in 2010, Academy Award-winning director David O. Russell's Nailed has finally emerged in the form of Accidental Love. It's so irredeemably bad that even Alan Smithee wouldn't touch it. The directorial pseudonym of choice here is Stephen Greene, and the movie was completed without O'Russell's involvement or blessing.
The premise is an intriguing one and the cast is impressive, hence the understandable clamour for this abomination to be seen. It involves Jessica Biel's rollerskating waitress Alice receiving a nail to a head in a freak accident, causing her to have an increased sex drive that sways her hips away from her loser lover and thrusts her into the path of Jake Gyllenhaal's creepy Congressman.
- 6/19/2015
- Digital Spy
Reviewed by Kevin Scott
MoreHorror.com
The Horror Show (1989)
Written by: Alan Smithee, Allyn Warner, Leslie Bohem
Directed by: James Isaac, David Blyth
Cast: Lance Henriksen (Detective Lucas McCarthy), Brion James (Max Jenke), Rita Taggart (Donna McCarthy), Dedee Pfeiffer (Bonnie McCarthy), Aron Eisenberg (Scott McCarthy), Thom Bray (Peter Campbell), Matt Clark (Dr. Tower), Terry Alexander (Casey)
Some films aren’t served very well by their titles. A name is just a name, but then again, first impressions can seal the deal. I didn’t see The Horror Show until about a week ago. My cursor has been looming over it in my Netfix queue for quite some time. The title is so ambiguous, that it could be anything. The key word is anything, and I will see anything with Lance Henriksen in it. He’s become the stuff of legends. He’s one of the few character actors that have...
MoreHorror.com
The Horror Show (1989)
Written by: Alan Smithee, Allyn Warner, Leslie Bohem
Directed by: James Isaac, David Blyth
Cast: Lance Henriksen (Detective Lucas McCarthy), Brion James (Max Jenke), Rita Taggart (Donna McCarthy), Dedee Pfeiffer (Bonnie McCarthy), Aron Eisenberg (Scott McCarthy), Thom Bray (Peter Campbell), Matt Clark (Dr. Tower), Terry Alexander (Casey)
Some films aren’t served very well by their titles. A name is just a name, but then again, first impressions can seal the deal. I didn’t see The Horror Show until about a week ago. My cursor has been looming over it in my Netfix queue for quite some time. The title is so ambiguous, that it could be anything. The key word is anything, and I will see anything with Lance Henriksen in it. He’s become the stuff of legends. He’s one of the few character actors that have...
- 11/24/2014
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly has received extreme responses from critics after its Cannes premiere on Friday. Twitchfilm’s Brian Clark Found it better than some of competition titles while Screen International’s Lee Marshall found its characters “hastily-sketched”.
International film website Twitchfilm.com’s European Editor Brian Clark was all praises for the film in his review. Here is an excerpt from his review:
…this Fargo-meets-Mumbai-police-procedural is compulsively watchable, thrilling, darkly funny and extremely well-directed.
Kashyap also gets a lot of mileage out of the locations, which emphasize the mood of the action rather than functioning as exotic foregrounds, and the way he depicts the sheer scope of a hunt for a single girl in Mumbai is pretty stunning. The performances too are all strong, with a touch of stilted, manic-intensity that blends seamlessly with the mood of the film.”
At two hours and eight minutes, Ugly runs a bit long (though of course,...
International film website Twitchfilm.com’s European Editor Brian Clark was all praises for the film in his review. Here is an excerpt from his review:
…this Fargo-meets-Mumbai-police-procedural is compulsively watchable, thrilling, darkly funny and extremely well-directed.
Kashyap also gets a lot of mileage out of the locations, which emphasize the mood of the action rather than functioning as exotic foregrounds, and the way he depicts the sheer scope of a hunt for a single girl in Mumbai is pretty stunning. The performances too are all strong, with a touch of stilted, manic-intensity that blends seamlessly with the mood of the film.”
At two hours and eight minutes, Ugly runs a bit long (though of course,...
- 5/19/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
One notable thing about the new trailer for "After Earth" (June 7), starring look-alike father-son duo Jaden and Will Smith, is the absence of director M. Night Shyamalan's name. Following the disastrously reviewed, 3-D retrofitted "The Last Airbender," not to mention "The Lady in the Water" and "The Happening," Sony is choosing not to remind audiences of Shyamalan's involvement in the movie. Does this mean that Shyamalan is an actual negative as a selling tool? On some level, Sony might as well make "After Earth" an Alan Smithee film. Alan Smithee is the official pseudonym used by filmmakers who wish to disown a project. The term came about in 1968, when actor Richard Widmark enlisted director Don Siegel to complete the film "Death of a Gunfighter," after vocalizing his discontent with current director Robert Totten. Siegel's logged days on the film were less than half of Totten's, and he contended after...
- 3/8/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Another Friday has passed and that means two titles never before released on DVD have been announced by the Scream Factory. You may not remember The Vagrant but odds are you remember The Horror Show and have been wondering if it would ever see the light of day again.
The big title of this week’s Scream Factory announcement is unquestionably The Horror Show, or as it is known in some foreign circles, House III. I never understood how anyone came to the conclusion that film could be released as a third installment of the House franchise, but then I also have never understood how a movie about killer radioactive tree roots could be marketed as Troll 3.
In much the same way Hollywood gave us dueling volcano films (Volcano and Dante’s Peak) and dueling celestial doomsday flicks (Armageddon and Deep Impact), 1989 saw the release of dueling fright flicks about...
The big title of this week’s Scream Factory announcement is unquestionably The Horror Show, or as it is known in some foreign circles, House III. I never understood how anyone came to the conclusion that film could be released as a third installment of the House franchise, but then I also have never understood how a movie about killer radioactive tree roots could be marketed as Troll 3.
In much the same way Hollywood gave us dueling volcano films (Volcano and Dante’s Peak) and dueling celestial doomsday flicks (Armageddon and Deep Impact), 1989 saw the release of dueling fright flicks about...
- 11/11/2012
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
Sherman Hemsley decided after a decade starring as iconic loudmouth George Jefferson on “The Jeffersons” that it was time to take a shot at big screen superstardom. Not only did he star in and croon the theme song to the 1987 comedy Ghost Fever, he also funded the film out of his own pocket, eventually bankrupting him.
How could a family comedy about racist ghosts in a Southern plantation not have been a financial hit?
Sherman Hemsley had dual roles as one half of a bumbling police duo (along with original “Electric Company” player Luis Avalos) and as the ghost of his slave grandfather assisting him throughout the movie. You see, these two cops have been sent to serve an eviction notice to two beautiful sisters living in an old Atlanta antebellum home haunted by the ghost of its original crazy, slave-owning, racist owner. Hijinks ensure!
That Ghost Fever’s style...
How could a family comedy about racist ghosts in a Southern plantation not have been a financial hit?
Sherman Hemsley had dual roles as one half of a bumbling police duo (along with original “Electric Company” player Luis Avalos) and as the ghost of his slave grandfather assisting him throughout the movie. You see, these two cops have been sent to serve an eviction notice to two beautiful sisters living in an old Atlanta antebellum home haunted by the ghost of its original crazy, slave-owning, racist owner. Hijinks ensure!
That Ghost Fever’s style...
- 2/25/2012
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
Check out a "We Belong Together" clip from Lionsgate's "Neowolf" horror romance. The film saw release on DVD April 20th and stars Agim Kaba, Michael Frascino, Heidi Johanningmeier, Ryan Ross, Veronica Cartwright, Megan Pepin and Christopher Runyon. Alan Smithee directs from the writing by Alessandro De Gaetano and Michael January. Produced by Daniele J. Suissa Nicholas Thomas and Gaetano, pic tells of two young lovers who face the ultimate evil. Rated R for bloody horror violence, some sexual content and language.
- 4/21/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
“I can’t believe we’re doing this. It’s just – I feel like such a slut.”
“I’m counting on it.”
There are bad movies, and then there are bad movies. What makes Neowolf so terrifically awful? The work of the extremely prolific director Alan Smithee, whose previous output includes Street Walkers 3 and Beach Cops, Neowolf is a cross-section of trashy editing, poorly lit everything, and generic rock numbers. Why would you subject yourself to this atrocious example of micro-budget horror filmmaking? You wouldn’t, that’s my job and for the next 500 words or so, I will bear the brunt of explaining why Neowolf is not worth your time.
“What are you seriously going to find on Google?”
“Something weird’s going on. I don’t know, but the energy wasn’t normal.”
This movie is about werewolves – but really cool werewolves, a new breed so to speak,...
“I’m counting on it.”
There are bad movies, and then there are bad movies. What makes Neowolf so terrifically awful? The work of the extremely prolific director Alan Smithee, whose previous output includes Street Walkers 3 and Beach Cops, Neowolf is a cross-section of trashy editing, poorly lit everything, and generic rock numbers. Why would you subject yourself to this atrocious example of micro-budget horror filmmaking? You wouldn’t, that’s my job and for the next 500 words or so, I will bear the brunt of explaining why Neowolf is not worth your time.
“What are you seriously going to find on Google?”
“Something weird’s going on. I don’t know, but the energy wasn’t normal.”
This movie is about werewolves – but really cool werewolves, a new breed so to speak,...
- 4/20/2010
- by Mark Zhuravsky
- JustPressPlay.net
Chicago – Horror fans heard the buzz surrounding “Cabin Fever” for months before it came out and the film launched Mr. Eli Roth to the “Hostel” films and even a role in the multiple Oscar nominee “Inglourious Basterds”. That film has now been released on Blu-ray to coincide with its straight-to-dvd sequel “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever,” itself directed by an already-acclaimed new horror director, “House of the Devil“‘s Ti West.
“Cabin Fever 2” DVD Rating: 1.0/5.0
“Cabin Fever” Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
“Cabin Fever” undeniably had a twisted, dark sense of humor but West’s “Cabin fever 2” takes it several steps further, practically pitching his sequel as a comedic spoof of ’80s teen horror flicks. He moves the action to a high school and keeps the flesh-eating action in place, but his tone is severely tongue-in-cheek from the animated opening credits to exaggerated faculty members to the appearances by over-the-top personalities like Mark Borchardt,...
“Cabin Fever 2” DVD Rating: 1.0/5.0
“Cabin Fever” Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
“Cabin Fever” undeniably had a twisted, dark sense of humor but West’s “Cabin fever 2” takes it several steps further, practically pitching his sequel as a comedic spoof of ’80s teen horror flicks. He moves the action to a high school and keeps the flesh-eating action in place, but his tone is severely tongue-in-cheek from the animated opening credits to exaggerated faculty members to the appearances by over-the-top personalities like Mark Borchardt,...
- 3/4/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Barely 29 years old, editor/writer/director Ti West has accomplished what many older directors can only dream about - having four feature films under his belt. And more to come. His most recent credit is the period piece 1980s horror flick The House of the Devil, and he has been receiving the sort of accolades that those more seasoned directors can also only salivate over.
I first spoke with Ti back in 2005 when his first feature, the terrifying The Roost, was coming out. I remember a young man who was passionate about filmmaking and excited about the reception his first film was receiving. Now it's five years later, and Ti is speaking with me again for Dread Central about the making of The House of the Devil (review here), the many occasions of “weirdness” that occurred, and the almost unanimous praise the film is receiving - and not just within the horror genre.
I first spoke with Ti back in 2005 when his first feature, the terrifying The Roost, was coming out. I remember a young man who was passionate about filmmaking and excited about the reception his first film was receiving. Now it's five years later, and Ti is speaking with me again for Dread Central about the making of The House of the Devil (review here), the many occasions of “weirdness” that occurred, and the almost unanimous praise the film is receiving - and not just within the horror genre.
- 1/26/2010
- by thebellefromhell
- DreadCentral.com
As a means of generating consumer interest in a few older television series whose DVD sales are probably past their prime, CBS has released a sampler DVD of its more notable action-based entrees. The resulting DVD certainly entertains, but whether it actually succeeds in stirring up the appropriate “must have the entire season” sentiment that CBS hoped for is doubtful. Sure, blending episodes of Mission: Impossible, MacGyver, Walker, Texas Ranger and NCIS will make for an interesting mix – but as a mass consumer of television myself, the episodes chosen may not have been the best choices.
Each of the episodes chosen is the pilot of its respective series but, while interesting to see from a television history perspective, the pilots of a series aren’t always the best choice when you’re trying to snag an audience for DVD purchases.
Walker, Texas Ranger – “One Riot, One Ranger”
Directed by Virgil W. Vogel,...
Each of the episodes chosen is the pilot of its respective series but, while interesting to see from a television history perspective, the pilots of a series aren’t always the best choice when you’re trying to snag an audience for DVD purchases.
Walker, Texas Ranger – “One Riot, One Ranger”
Directed by Virgil W. Vogel,...
- 5/26/2009
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
Setting down a wobbly tripod against the backdrop of small-town teen beauty pageants, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" is a mockumentary of numbingly unfunny proportions.
The makers of the intended black comedy were so enormously tickled by its apparent outrageousness that they thoughtfully left huge gaping pauses for all the presumed laughter. As it is, the film is tediously one-note (if that).
But while the filmmakers were obviously going for something along the wicked lines of a "Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" and distributor New Line is hoping to, at the very least, grab the "Election" audience, the picture more accurately approaches the spirit of "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn."
In other words, the boxoffice prognosis for "Drop Dead Gorgeous" is pretty ugly.
When the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess America Pageant comes to the perky heartland town of Mount Rose, Minn., where everyone loves their lutefisk, a documentary camera crew, intent on capturing all the youthful dreams and disappointments, ends up uncovering a little larceny along with all the "Yah, you betchas".
Determined that her spoiled daughter Becky (Denise Richards) will follow in her teen-queen footsteps, former Sarah Rose winner Gladys Leeman (a bedraggled Kirstie Alley) isn't afraid to resort to some treachery in order to trim some of the competition.
Becky's biggest threat is sweet Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), who dreams of becoming a TV anchorwoman just like her idol Diane Sawyer, with the blessing of her chain-smoking trailer trash mom, Annette (Ellen Barkin).
Naturally, all the backbiting and accusations lead to nastier stuff, but when the dust finally clears there will still be just one winner, no matter the cost.
Even though the subject matter and documentary-style approach have both been tackled many times before, there probably still was some ripe satire to be mined here. Unfortunately, screenwriter Lona Williams (herself a former Minnesota beauty pageant contestant) and first-time feature director Michael Patrick Jann run out of inspiration very quickly. "Drop Dead Gorgeous" feels like a wayward Groundlings sketch searching vainly for an exit line.
Admittedly, there are a few moments hinting at what might have been, like those involving the previous year's winner -- a hospitalized anorexic who is wheeled out by a nurse to reprise her big show-stopping number, lip-synching Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud". It actually plays a lot funnier than it sounds.
The rest falls insufferably flat. Saddled with lame Minnesotan accents (with apologies to the Coen brothers), the players, for the most part, pacify themselves by chewing on the scenery. Dunst comes closest to getting the tone right by playing her role with gosh-gee whiz sincerity, but her noble efforts have been set adrift in a sea of smirky self-satisfaction.
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS
New Line
A Hofflund/Polone Production
In association with Capella/KC Medien
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Producers: Gavin Polone and Judy Hofflund
Screenwriter: Lona Williams
Executive producers: Claire Rudnick Polstein, Donna Langley, Lona Williams
Director of photography: Michael Spiller
Production designer: Ruth Ammon
Editors: David Codron, Janice Hampton
Costume designer: Mimi Melgaard
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Music supervisor: Evyen Klean
Casting: John Papsidera
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gladys Leeman: Kirstie Alley
Annette: Ellen Barkin
Amber: Kirstin Dunst
Becky: Denise Richards
Lisa: Brittany Murphy
Loretta: Allison Janney
Hank Vilmes: Will Sasso
Leslie Miller: Amy Adams
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The makers of the intended black comedy were so enormously tickled by its apparent outrageousness that they thoughtfully left huge gaping pauses for all the presumed laughter. As it is, the film is tediously one-note (if that).
But while the filmmakers were obviously going for something along the wicked lines of a "Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" and distributor New Line is hoping to, at the very least, grab the "Election" audience, the picture more accurately approaches the spirit of "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn."
In other words, the boxoffice prognosis for "Drop Dead Gorgeous" is pretty ugly.
When the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess America Pageant comes to the perky heartland town of Mount Rose, Minn., where everyone loves their lutefisk, a documentary camera crew, intent on capturing all the youthful dreams and disappointments, ends up uncovering a little larceny along with all the "Yah, you betchas".
Determined that her spoiled daughter Becky (Denise Richards) will follow in her teen-queen footsteps, former Sarah Rose winner Gladys Leeman (a bedraggled Kirstie Alley) isn't afraid to resort to some treachery in order to trim some of the competition.
Becky's biggest threat is sweet Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), who dreams of becoming a TV anchorwoman just like her idol Diane Sawyer, with the blessing of her chain-smoking trailer trash mom, Annette (Ellen Barkin).
Naturally, all the backbiting and accusations lead to nastier stuff, but when the dust finally clears there will still be just one winner, no matter the cost.
Even though the subject matter and documentary-style approach have both been tackled many times before, there probably still was some ripe satire to be mined here. Unfortunately, screenwriter Lona Williams (herself a former Minnesota beauty pageant contestant) and first-time feature director Michael Patrick Jann run out of inspiration very quickly. "Drop Dead Gorgeous" feels like a wayward Groundlings sketch searching vainly for an exit line.
Admittedly, there are a few moments hinting at what might have been, like those involving the previous year's winner -- a hospitalized anorexic who is wheeled out by a nurse to reprise her big show-stopping number, lip-synching Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud". It actually plays a lot funnier than it sounds.
The rest falls insufferably flat. Saddled with lame Minnesotan accents (with apologies to the Coen brothers), the players, for the most part, pacify themselves by chewing on the scenery. Dunst comes closest to getting the tone right by playing her role with gosh-gee whiz sincerity, but her noble efforts have been set adrift in a sea of smirky self-satisfaction.
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS
New Line
A Hofflund/Polone Production
In association with Capella/KC Medien
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Producers: Gavin Polone and Judy Hofflund
Screenwriter: Lona Williams
Executive producers: Claire Rudnick Polstein, Donna Langley, Lona Williams
Director of photography: Michael Spiller
Production designer: Ruth Ammon
Editors: David Codron, Janice Hampton
Costume designer: Mimi Melgaard
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Music supervisor: Evyen Klean
Casting: John Papsidera
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gladys Leeman: Kirstie Alley
Annette: Ellen Barkin
Amber: Kirstin Dunst
Becky: Denise Richards
Lisa: Brittany Murphy
Loretta: Allison Janney
Hank Vilmes: Will Sasso
Leslie Miller: Amy Adams
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 7/16/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Whenever Hollywood sends up Hollywood, the result often treads a very fine line between astute, sharp satire and smug, self-serving in-joke.
Landing in the latter category with a pronounced thud is "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn," the picture that became a self-fulfilling prophecy when original director Arthur Hiller opted off the credits following serious artistic differences with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Staggeringly unfunny, this one-note home movie may have once been an industry must-read, but the finished product, with its endless references to O.J. and Heidi Fleiss, is anything but fresh or pertinent.
Given a test drive at this week's Mill Valley (Calif.) Film Festival, "Alan Smithee" isn't slated for release until spring, which would give Buena Vista a little time to consider the more merciful option of skipping the theatrics and heading directly to video.
What little plot line there is concerns the dilemma of one Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), a first-time feature filmmaker whose Hollywood future is pinned on "Trio", a megabudget shoot-'em-up adventure starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Chan.
When studio interference in the persons of smarmy, bombastic producer James Edmonds (Ryan O'Neal) and weasely studio head Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni) forces the Idle character to forfeit his personal vision, he tries to do the honorable thing by having his name taken off the picture. But thanks to that longstanding (since 1969) DGA-sanctioned pseudonym for unclaimed credits, Smithee realizes he's a doomed man.
Instead, he disappears with the film cans and ultimately makes good on his promise to burn the contents, thereby "saving the world from one more bad film." Would that Hiller could have followed suit.
Eszterhas, a prolific writer not previously known for comedy, can at least rest assured that his reputation is intact. Unwavering in its self-amused, sophomoric tone, the picture is shot "Spinal Tap"-style, with its subjects yammering incessantly into the camera.
Performance-wise, the cast is divided into two groups -- those playing themselves or, at least, self-conscious versions of themselves (Stallone, Goldberg, Chan plus Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Robert Shapiro, Shane Black and a somewhat amusing Robert Evans) and those playing characters with winking asides (O'Neal, Jeni and rappers Coolio and Chuck D as the filmmaking Brothers Brothers).
Also joining in the high jinks are Sandra Bernhard as Jeni's wife; Miramax Chief Harvey Weinstein as a detective, looking understandably like a deer caught in headlights; and Eszterhas himself, who proves he can take a joke by generously including putdowns of his own "Showgirls", as well as furnishing the words "screenwriter, penile implant" as his onscreen I.D.
Technically, things are of the on-the-fly, shaky, hand-held variety, while the soundtrack is packed with snippets of selections from unknown bands who apparently took Eszterhas up on his full-page trade ads inviting them to send in their demos for a shot at fame and fortune.
AN Alan Smithee FILM -
BURN, HOLLYWOOD, BURN
Buena Vista
Presented by Hollywood Pictures
in association with Cinergi Prods.
Director Alan Smithee
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
Producer Ben Myron
Executive producer Andrew G. Vajna
Director of photography Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer David L. Snyder
Editor Jim Langlois
Music Gary G-Wiz and Chuck D
Casting Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
James Edmonds Ryan O'Neal
Alan Smithee Eric Idle
Jerry Glover Richard Jeni
Dion Brothers Coolio
Leon Brothers Chuck D.
Ann Glover Sandra Bernhard
Running time - 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Landing in the latter category with a pronounced thud is "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn," the picture that became a self-fulfilling prophecy when original director Arthur Hiller opted off the credits following serious artistic differences with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Staggeringly unfunny, this one-note home movie may have once been an industry must-read, but the finished product, with its endless references to O.J. and Heidi Fleiss, is anything but fresh or pertinent.
Given a test drive at this week's Mill Valley (Calif.) Film Festival, "Alan Smithee" isn't slated for release until spring, which would give Buena Vista a little time to consider the more merciful option of skipping the theatrics and heading directly to video.
What little plot line there is concerns the dilemma of one Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), a first-time feature filmmaker whose Hollywood future is pinned on "Trio", a megabudget shoot-'em-up adventure starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Chan.
When studio interference in the persons of smarmy, bombastic producer James Edmonds (Ryan O'Neal) and weasely studio head Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni) forces the Idle character to forfeit his personal vision, he tries to do the honorable thing by having his name taken off the picture. But thanks to that longstanding (since 1969) DGA-sanctioned pseudonym for unclaimed credits, Smithee realizes he's a doomed man.
Instead, he disappears with the film cans and ultimately makes good on his promise to burn the contents, thereby "saving the world from one more bad film." Would that Hiller could have followed suit.
Eszterhas, a prolific writer not previously known for comedy, can at least rest assured that his reputation is intact. Unwavering in its self-amused, sophomoric tone, the picture is shot "Spinal Tap"-style, with its subjects yammering incessantly into the camera.
Performance-wise, the cast is divided into two groups -- those playing themselves or, at least, self-conscious versions of themselves (Stallone, Goldberg, Chan plus Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Robert Shapiro, Shane Black and a somewhat amusing Robert Evans) and those playing characters with winking asides (O'Neal, Jeni and rappers Coolio and Chuck D as the filmmaking Brothers Brothers).
Also joining in the high jinks are Sandra Bernhard as Jeni's wife; Miramax Chief Harvey Weinstein as a detective, looking understandably like a deer caught in headlights; and Eszterhas himself, who proves he can take a joke by generously including putdowns of his own "Showgirls", as well as furnishing the words "screenwriter, penile implant" as his onscreen I.D.
Technically, things are of the on-the-fly, shaky, hand-held variety, while the soundtrack is packed with snippets of selections from unknown bands who apparently took Eszterhas up on his full-page trade ads inviting them to send in their demos for a shot at fame and fortune.
AN Alan Smithee FILM -
BURN, HOLLYWOOD, BURN
Buena Vista
Presented by Hollywood Pictures
in association with Cinergi Prods.
Director Alan Smithee
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
Producer Ben Myron
Executive producer Andrew G. Vajna
Director of photography Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer David L. Snyder
Editor Jim Langlois
Music Gary G-Wiz and Chuck D
Casting Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
James Edmonds Ryan O'Neal
Alan Smithee Eric Idle
Jerry Glover Richard Jeni
Dion Brothers Coolio
Leon Brothers Chuck D.
Ann Glover Sandra Bernhard
Running time - 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/3/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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