These 90s indie film-makers usually lose it after a couple of movies, so I expected this to be unexceptional. Di Cillo was past his prime already at this point.
Trying to do two types of movies at once was a mistake. He should have done two separate movies - a satiric comedy, and a fairy-tale romance flick. This is a shallow satire of show-biz, partially because the fairy-tale romance neutralizes much of the satire. Why? Because by romanticizing the two love-birds (a pop star and a rising movie star) Cillo presents these people as much more likable and principled than they are - by a far margin.
Unrealistic characters, some predictable situations, not much of a convincing story either. Indie films normally don't require a big, intricate plot, because they rely on clever characterization and unusual situations. There are a few potentially interesting situations but the characters are too idealized, especially for an indie film. If this can even be considered one.
For example, the pop singer. She is far too well-behaved for an MTV tart. Not to mention the embarrassing scene when she's writing a song, as if these pop divas write ANY of their own music. They most certainly do not, and the notion that any of them READ and actually WRITE music in note form, as well, is so laughable I have to wonder just where Di Cillo has been in recent years. In a cave? Such bizarre naivety from a NY director is baffling. Ironically, this movie is ABOUT show-biz yet Di Cillo exhibits a lack of understanding of that world, as if I'm more of an insider than he is, which obviously can't be true. Yet it somehow appears to be the case.
Secondly, the homeless character. Rather unrealistic, quite a romanticized version of a young homeless person. He is neither street-smart, nor decadent, nor dangerous, nor has any ill-will toward anybody, nor is he drug-addicted or an alcoholic, nor unpredictable, nor depressed nor violent. He is some kind of a Disneyland version of a hobo, just as his love-interest is a totally fictional pop starlet. He may as well have dropped out of a boy-band, that's how anti-hoboic he is.
"You just cost me my Elvis Costello photos! You know how much money they're worth?!"
About $15?
Cillo is so lost and out-of-touch that he actually believed that a pop starlet from 2006 would actually have anything to do with "Elvis Costello" (his real name is Declan Shamus or some such Irish name), or that the yellow press would actually bother paying for photos of "Elvis Costello". A real paparazzi, unlike Buscemi who plays one here, wouldn't have risked being kicked out from a private party - just to get snaps of "Costello". It's laughable. The paparazzi, unlike Cillo, are in the business of knowing "who's hot and who's not". Cillo should have had one of them act as advisor on this film, or at least read the script to correct some of the nonsense.
Pitt's rise from homeless person to celebrity is very far-fetched to begin with (coz nobody below the middle-class can achieve stardom these days, not even a lower-class kid, much less a homeless person), but it could have been pulled off reasonably, if only Cillo had written it in an intelligent manner. He didn't. He rushed things, he made it look easy. A cheesy ploy more "worthy" of a very bad Hollywood film. Pitt becomes an overnight sensation, just because he's cast in some obviously dumb low-budget TV series. I realize that there's only so much time for proper plot development in a 100-minute movie, but if you can't do this convincingly then go with a different kind of plot. There is just no way in Hell that show Pitt is cast in could possibly get him into headline news, and so quickly. Cillo should have made sure the role was for a big blockbuster movie.
It's not an all-out commercial kind of comedy where this kind of nonsense is doable, hence why it doesn't work. Aside from the fact that the script is mediocre, formulaic and the other stuff I mention.
Cillo even manages to commit one of my pet-peeves, and that's hiring a homely nepotist actress and have her declared a "beauty" by one of the characters. Gina Bloody Gershon! Whoever considers her pretty should just relocate to the ocean, because there's plenty of fish in the sea like that, and I don't mean figuratively...
The dialog, rather than being smart, is flat and on occasion as banal as if this were some cheap Hollywood B-movie. Or A-movie, because these days most Hollywood films have B-movie dialog.
Trying to do two types of movies at once was a mistake. He should have done two separate movies - a satiric comedy, and a fairy-tale romance flick. This is a shallow satire of show-biz, partially because the fairy-tale romance neutralizes much of the satire. Why? Because by romanticizing the two love-birds (a pop star and a rising movie star) Cillo presents these people as much more likable and principled than they are - by a far margin.
Unrealistic characters, some predictable situations, not much of a convincing story either. Indie films normally don't require a big, intricate plot, because they rely on clever characterization and unusual situations. There are a few potentially interesting situations but the characters are too idealized, especially for an indie film. If this can even be considered one.
For example, the pop singer. She is far too well-behaved for an MTV tart. Not to mention the embarrassing scene when she's writing a song, as if these pop divas write ANY of their own music. They most certainly do not, and the notion that any of them READ and actually WRITE music in note form, as well, is so laughable I have to wonder just where Di Cillo has been in recent years. In a cave? Such bizarre naivety from a NY director is baffling. Ironically, this movie is ABOUT show-biz yet Di Cillo exhibits a lack of understanding of that world, as if I'm more of an insider than he is, which obviously can't be true. Yet it somehow appears to be the case.
Secondly, the homeless character. Rather unrealistic, quite a romanticized version of a young homeless person. He is neither street-smart, nor decadent, nor dangerous, nor has any ill-will toward anybody, nor is he drug-addicted or an alcoholic, nor unpredictable, nor depressed nor violent. He is some kind of a Disneyland version of a hobo, just as his love-interest is a totally fictional pop starlet. He may as well have dropped out of a boy-band, that's how anti-hoboic he is.
"You just cost me my Elvis Costello photos! You know how much money they're worth?!"
About $15?
Cillo is so lost and out-of-touch that he actually believed that a pop starlet from 2006 would actually have anything to do with "Elvis Costello" (his real name is Declan Shamus or some such Irish name), or that the yellow press would actually bother paying for photos of "Elvis Costello". A real paparazzi, unlike Buscemi who plays one here, wouldn't have risked being kicked out from a private party - just to get snaps of "Costello". It's laughable. The paparazzi, unlike Cillo, are in the business of knowing "who's hot and who's not". Cillo should have had one of them act as advisor on this film, or at least read the script to correct some of the nonsense.
Pitt's rise from homeless person to celebrity is very far-fetched to begin with (coz nobody below the middle-class can achieve stardom these days, not even a lower-class kid, much less a homeless person), but it could have been pulled off reasonably, if only Cillo had written it in an intelligent manner. He didn't. He rushed things, he made it look easy. A cheesy ploy more "worthy" of a very bad Hollywood film. Pitt becomes an overnight sensation, just because he's cast in some obviously dumb low-budget TV series. I realize that there's only so much time for proper plot development in a 100-minute movie, but if you can't do this convincingly then go with a different kind of plot. There is just no way in Hell that show Pitt is cast in could possibly get him into headline news, and so quickly. Cillo should have made sure the role was for a big blockbuster movie.
It's not an all-out commercial kind of comedy where this kind of nonsense is doable, hence why it doesn't work. Aside from the fact that the script is mediocre, formulaic and the other stuff I mention.
Cillo even manages to commit one of my pet-peeves, and that's hiring a homely nepotist actress and have her declared a "beauty" by one of the characters. Gina Bloody Gershon! Whoever considers her pretty should just relocate to the ocean, because there's plenty of fish in the sea like that, and I don't mean figuratively...
The dialog, rather than being smart, is flat and on occasion as banal as if this were some cheap Hollywood B-movie. Or A-movie, because these days most Hollywood films have B-movie dialog.