Directed by Michael Addis Starring: Jamie Kennedy. Featuring: Louie Anderson, Lewis Black, Jon Lovitz, Arsenio Hall, Henry Winkler, Rob Zombie,Carrie Fisher, George Wallace, Mike Ditka, Leonard Maltin, Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin, Craig Ferguson, Robert Englund, George Lucas. Documentary/Comedy. Synopsis: Jamie Kennedy interviews comedians, performers, and celebrities to get an understanding of how they react and feel about harsh criticism and hecklers. This might not be exactly as you might guess from the box cover and the obvious assumptions you would make based on the talent in the film. Don't get me wrong, this is funny, but that is not all it is, and I'm not even sure that was even the primary focus of the film, and I'm sure its not its main point.
Addis and Kennedy, in addition to providing a ton of opportunities, also want to make a point: celebrities, no matter how rich or talented, do hear the loud and increasingly personal and vitriolic criticism to hear and, for many of them, it does hurt. O.k., I don't want to go too far in giving you the impression this is some kind of tear jerker wrapped inside a comedy. Its not. But there is a serious point.
However, the documentary goes even deeper than that, it really tries to answer the question of why critics are as negative and personal as they are, and why its becoming so much more prevalent.
This kind of rang true with me, not that I'm in any danger of being confused with a celebrity or someone with talent, but I have wondered why it seems to be so necessary for so many, especially those of us in the blogosphere, to be so over the top with the criticism. I mean, we've all seen bad movies (Not to be overly philosophical, but don't we kind of need them to truly appreciate the good ones? You know, you can't have light without darkness and so forth...), but is anyone really so bad that we 'feel like we've been cheated of two hours from our life', or 'need to take a shower after watching', or that the director should be 'killed' ? And, something that yours truly hopes he's not guilty of but probably is, can we all just admit that our own point of view isn't the be all end all? If you have an opinion, state it, but is anyone who disagrees with you or me an "idiot"?
I don't think so, and I think that is something I got from the movie, which does a good job of giving some critics their say as well. You realize how ridiculous some of it is, if a young mand doesn't like Jamie Kennedy's stand up routine, fine, but you realize how silly he comes across telling him he has "no talent".
Another thing that was really powerful in this film was the use of archived footage to show some people being heckled onstage, including some (in)famous ones such as Sean Young's drunken heckle at the Oscar's, Ronald Reagan telling a heckler on the campaign trail in Michigan in 1980 to "shut up", and Bill Maher going ballistic and having a heckler physically removed from his talk show.
I also appreciated the attempt to get into the psyche of the heckler/critic, and what their inappropriate actions might say about them above from just being rude.
All in all, a very good documentary flick that will make you laugh plenty and just might also make you think a little. That's what it did for me, for what that'as worth.
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