"Pauly Shore"

So Claire and I went to go see Pauly Shore is Dead last night at The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. For those that aren't from Austin, let's just say that the ADH is the coolest theater ever conceived. One of the reasons why they are so cool is because they often times bring in directors, writers and/or actors to talk about their films. And, sure enough, Pauly Shore was going to be at the showing last night.

Normally I'm the one that drags Claire out to these things. But she happens to love Son-In-Law (don't ask), and she heard Pauly and Tim League (the Drafthouse's owner) on 101X's morning show yesterday. She thought it sounded like fun and called me to ask if I wanted to go. Initially I thought that it would be cool. It's always fun to see washed up entertainers squirm through questions like "So what are you doing, now?" during the inevitable Q&A. So, I went online to get the tickets and. . . wtf? $16!?. . . for a movie that not only stars Pauly Shore as himself, but was directed, written, produced and even financed by Pauly? Hmmm. . . I had to think about it. Because $32. . . that's a freakin' new game right there, boy! Anyway, in the end I realized that it's not everyday that Claire requests to go to the Drafthouse. So, at 32 dollars poorer, we had our tickets.

The movie was a train wreck. But not a train wreck in a way that you would gawk in awe of the horror. That would mean that you would actually purposefully look in its direction. I'm talking a train wreck as in it makes you wince at the gore and look away. Yeah, it pretty much sucked.

I admire the guy for being able to put a project like that together. It was a labor of love for him (and an obvious ploy to try to get back some semblance of a career, but we'll overlook that.) And to his credit, he saw it through. He definitely gets props for trying. However, the final product isn't even worthy of cable.

First of all, due to budget restrictions I'm sure, it wasn't even filmed in 35mm film. It looked like a high school production. That was already a bad sign. I would have probably overlooked that except that the acting, mostly his, was awful. And the directing, if you can call it that, was deplorable. The tone of the movie was inconsistent and the pacing was out of whack. I'll give him this though: really, can anyone direct a 1 dimensional 'actor' like Ben Stiller? The best acting job was from the least likely of people. Shore originally wanted Robert Downey, Jr. to play his cell mate in the movie, but I was really impressed with Todd Bridges. Honestly, I thought he did a great job. Someone needs to give that guy some work!

The highlight of the movie, as you can imagine, were the tons of cameos by celebrities. . . some still popular, some forgotten (Rico Suave anyone?) In almost all cases, they're funny as shit. . . especially when they trash Pauly. Yes, at least Pauly was able to laugh at himself. If he hadn't, the movie would have been unbearable altogether. Having Carrot Top move into his house after he was forced to move out, and having Rico Suave selling oranges on the side of the road... now THOSE were good ideas. More of that shit and less of Pauly's 'dramatic' crying scenes would have been good.

Rob's Rating: It sucks.