Ben Larson
I really don't know what the training program is for directors, but doing Mel Gibson's hair must be on the career path. Director Paul Abascal has more experience as a hair stylist than a director, and it shows. The film doesn't appear to flow smoothly, and you never knew where it was going.I get a kick out of revenge flicks, so I give it a recommendation, but only if you catch it on cable.Dennis Farina had a "Columbo" part in the film, and was the best thing going.Tom Sizemore was the one you kept waiting to get his.
PeterMitchell-506-564364
Okay, this may be pretentious in the least, and taken way too far, it's idea of a rising actor being hounded by those pesky photographers was bound to surface as a movie. But that's where the fun lies, the exaggeration of story from it's idea, especially for revenge fans, as seeing how far Cole Hauser's character (an upcoming actor playing a upcoming actor, how ironic) can be pushed, before retaliating. He punches out one Paparazzi, creating some bad exposure for himself. Underneath, this is a thing a lot of actors would love to do, I gather. In reality, a lot of stars must of been feeling that certain pinch, relating with this, at it's premiere, where coincidentally, the movie takes off here, as Hauser, and his family walk the red carpet, a startling experience for any rising star. He's the new focus of Sizemore and his Papparazzi goons, who soon turn his perfect life into a nightmare of harassment which eventuates into a close call with death, a car accident in which wife (Robin Tunney) is nearly killed. Now the fires of revenge are lit that pitt Hauser against his harassers where he exacts his own form of personal justice, a methodical plan in which each of the four die, which you never know how, until it's happens, where you underestimate the smarts of this character, or may'be he has you thinking, how could be capable of such genius. Actors aren't the smartest people out there. Although it's way off the mark, leaving the realms of reality, Paparazzi is a fun flick, that takes the p..s out of this people in terms of their deaths, which hopefully must of angered some. It also takes the mickey of some of it's actors, whose careers are fading, where a couple of real ones, are used amongst this fictional telling, one such actor of course, being Mel Gibson (who co produced this as well) sitting outside an anger management office. What a send up, truly the comedic highpoint of this small minded film, that's no blockbuster, after only a one week running in Adelaide. Hauser, Wings's son is an intriguing choice in the lead.
Brandt Sponseller
It's surprising that no one has made this film before now, because it's not only a great idea, I'd bet it's a fantasy that many huge stars have had. Hell, it's a fantasy I have as an everyday schlub when people bug me--or even when I'm in crowds and people are pushy.The odd thing, with the talent and money involved, is that Paparazzi has the feel of a made-for-television film. And one look at director Paul Abascal's resume gives us a likely reason--this is his only feature film as helmer so far, although he has close to twenty television credits on his resume, plus an impressive list of titles behind him as a Hollywood hairstylist (which causes me to try to remember the hairstyles in Paparazzi . . . but I just don't tend to pay that much attention to them, unless they're something pleasantly weird like Diva Zappa's hair as "The Drill Girl" in Children of the Corn 5: Fields of Terror (1998)).But as a made-for-television film, Paparazzi is excellent, and as a major release, it's very good. While the story may be a fairly pedestrian tale of revenge--albeit a touch more clever in the end--what makes Paparazzi excel is the performances. Cole Hauser is perfect as the slightly bewildered "normal guy" suddenly catapulted to stardom. Few people can do sleazeball better than Tom Sizemore and Daniel Baldwin; they're at their best here. And by this point, Dennis Farina is such a master of playing both a cop and a thug that I expect to hear on the news that he's arrested himself.
ElmStreetsLastBrat
I just saw this movie Paparazzi for the first time tonight on F/X and I found it to be a very good film. Although I could tell much of it was chopped and edited for cable it was still quite enjoyable. Cole Hauser plays Bo Laramie, an up-and-coming movie star who, along with his wife and young son, are constantly hounded and followed by the paparazzi. One night Bo and his family end up being in a terrible car accident caused by the endless flashing cameras from the paparazzi. And Bo's son Zack ends up in a coma and his wife is seriously injured. I found it a little disturbing to see the paparazzi taking pictures of Bo and his family while they're unconscious in their wrecked car on the side of the road. And on an even more disturbing note: this isn't an exaggeration! That is exactly how the paparazzi really is. They'll do anything to get a picture of a movie star doing no matter what. So when Bo realizes that the paparazzi is still following him after the accident to get pictures, even in the hospital, and they're not being charged with having to do anything with the accident, Bo takes matters into his own hands and the four members of the paparazzi end up dead. And Dennis Farina, who plays the main detective who is trying to work on Bo's case, is trying to set Bo up and isn't really on his side. So once members of the paparazzi end up dead one by one, the police and the detective start chasing after Bo. But all Bo wants is to have a normal life and make the paparazzi go away. This film really makes you feel kind of bad for movie stars and famous people. They cannot go anywhere without a paparazzi lurking in the woods with their cameras. All they want is to have a nice quiet dinner with their family and sometimes they gotta put up with a paparazzi trying to take their picture. This film is a fine example of what the paparazzi are like and I don't think they exaggerated. And the acting was OK. It wasn't Oscar-worthy but it certainly wasn't horrible. This film won't win any awards or make any kind of history but I thought it was a very good movie. It was highly entertaining and should be viewed by anyone who hates the paparazzi! Thanks for reading my review!
AD
