Synopsis
Pauly Shore’s career spirals down into the toilet in the wake of a disastrous Fox sitcom.Desperate, he fakes his own death, thus boosting his popularity. His plan seems to be working,until the terrible backfire when he is caught and sent to jail.
There’s a halfway clever conceit here, given that Shore co-wrote, co-produced and directedwhat plays partly as an exercise in self-loathing, a perspective that viewers can only heartilysupport. There are some amusing cameos…(Bill Maher glares at his TV screen when the sitcomis aired and mutters, “I hate this country.”, and Tom Sizemore is recognized as “the creepy guy inall those movies”). But there have been so many movies about Hollywood and what an awfulplace it is, that yet another entry had better be good to stand out, and believe me, this is noSunset Boulevard. Many of the cameos are so self-indulgent and gratuitous (do we reallyneed Fred Durst and the Hilton sisters?) that the entire enterprise feels like one big in-joke.
Audio
The music has surprisingly big, ominous feel, and it’s the best thing about the audio. Shore’svoice-over is a bit harsh, and only the music has any real surround presence to it. The rest of thedialogue is free of buzz, but that voice-over can become quite irritating. There certainly isn’tmuch by way of environmental effects.
Video
A bit of a mixed bag, with the image varying in quality from soft to sharp depending on theshot. The colours are generally strong, but the flesh tones are sometimes a bit too pink. Thetransfer is free of grain and edge enhancement, and the blacks and contrasts are solid. Bothfullscreen and 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratios are provided.
Special Features
If you can put up with 82 minutes of Shore’s fingers-on-the-blackboard whine, welcome tothe commentary, which does give background on the film, but also feels rather like an extenedshout-out to his gazillion cameo stars. “Interrogating the Wiez” is a Q&A session led by Shoreat the premiere of the film. There are a batch of deleted scenes, each with an intro by Shore andthe whoever is in the scenes with him (the Hiltons, Charlie Sheen, Aaron Lewis in the case ofthe song parody) and each intro is in turn preceded by a “wrap” preface by Eminem and Proof –these segments are tiresome beyond my ability to describe. The menu’s main screen is animatedand scored.
Closing Thoughts
The people who will probably get the most out of this are the ones who were in it. Next,some enjoyment might be there for Pauly Shore fans (do they still exist?) and people whoremember being Pauly Shore fans.
Special Features List
- Director’s Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- Celebrity Introductions
- Eminem and Proof Wraps
- “Interrogating the Wiez” Q&A Session
