"Alan Smithee" is Hollywood's dirty little moniker inserted into a film's
credits when a disgruntled director doesn't want his name associated with an
inevitable dud. So what happens if your name really is Alan Smithee? That's the
kind of dumb fun this mockumentary aims for as it spoofs the inner circle of
Hollywood's notorious film biz.
Eric Idle is a delightfully discombobulated mess as Smithee, the British
import who jumps hook, line, and sinker at the chance to direct a mega-budget
actioner staring Sylvester Stallone, Jackie Chan, and Whoopi Goldberg. Entitled
Trio, the film is an overproduced dog that strands Smithee behind the
camera as little more than a pawn. Humiliated and left with no legitimate way
to strike his name from the picture, the neurotic auteur steals the film and
goes on the lam, leaving the crew of mockumentarians and his bullish producers
frantic and in the lurch.
Written by the king of Hollywood overindulgence, Joe Eszterhas (Show
Girls), Burn Hollywood Burn is surprisingly coherent, but a handful
of insider chuckles and a bevy of star-powered cameos can't hide this slapstick
emulation of The Player from what it really is: a shameless exercise in
self-flagellation.
© 1995-99 DesertNet, LLC . The Boston Phoenix . Powered by Dispatch