No one can blame the people who work there for not daring to make a true Hollywood satire: it would, after all, be their own careers at the butt of every joke. Which may explain why this mild lampoon of modern movie-making - the parties, the pretensions, the deals, the hype - tactfully avoids hitting its intended targets too hard. Kevin Bacon is the aspiring director courted by Tinsel Town royalty (agents and producers) after winning an AFI student film award; he's a talented and honest guy in an industry often unable to recognize either virtue, and it isn't long before he loses himself to the shallow rewards of Hollywood status: fast cars, faster women, and so forth. Viewers may recognize in the credits the names of some of the folk responsible for the definitive rock 'n' roll spoof 'This Is Spinal Tap', but any other similarity between the two features is entirely coincidental. The new film is almost as superficial as the movies it makes fun of: it's a comedy about selling out that sells itself out for the obligatory (if nicely ironic) happy ending. Watch for many familiar faces in uncredited cameos.
Review of The Big Picture
