Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters

Easily the dumbest documentary HBO has ever been involved in this is a "look" at what makes a hit or a flop. Using loose subject headings various people talk about how we can never know what will hit or what will miss. We see how the rules of one moment don't apply to the next. There is also a good deal of discussion about how all film making is a crap shoot since what should work very often doesn't.

Actually what this film is lots of stars and studio execs sitting in chairs telling "witty stories" about the films that worked and the films that failed all the while trying to come across as "gee whiz" nice guys. While the stories are interesting the film quickly reveals that there isn't much of a point, or if there is one, the point doesn't require 75 minutes to have it beaten into your head. Its the sort of movie where some one says Howard the Duck and expects it to get big laughs. We also get rapid fire clips from the various movies that are suppose to illustrate the point but are too brief and fleeting to be much beyond a visual reference. Its so many people talking so briefly about so many different movies, or speaking so generally that you get no real information about anything. Yes, there are some telling remarks about life in Tinseltown but its much ado about nothing since its the equivalent to reading a book of quotes on the movies with nothing beyond the quotes. Personally, I was bored and after half an hour I picked up a magazine and began to read.

If you like movies give it a try,after all there are some good lines and confessions (George Clooney on responsibility and Brian Grazer on wishing someone else's failure) but its too long and never adds up to anything worth anything.

Excellent documentary exploring the dichotomy, mystery and miracles of film-making. It's funny, serious, whimsical, self-contradictory, and full of the width and breath of personalities that rule Hollywood...behind or in front of the camera. Filmmakers from Sidney Pollack to George Clooney all take the stage in all their glory and personality to explain to the view the tricks, formulas, secrets, mysteries and miracles of film-making. We see that not as the A-List superstars they are, but as mere cogs in the Hollywood system deftly juggling creativity with the economics and politics of film-making. I highly recommend adding this to your library if you are a filmmaker in any sense of the word.

Much more than just another compilation of film clips, this celebration of movie magic made me smile from start to finish. With personalities ranging from George Clooney to Bob Evans to Richard Zanuck, it's a privilege to listen in on these insiders discuss why we love movies, and what makes them hits or bombs. We see Jodie Foster and Charlize Theron talking about why they have made their role choices, and what drives them to take the difficult parts no one thought they could do. We see Morgan Freeman commenting on his involvement with big flops (Bonfire of the Vanities) and huge but unexpected hits (Unforgiven, Driving Miss Daisy, March of the Penguins). Best of all, we do see wonderful clips of some of the best and worst films in cinema history.

This is one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen. Each new segment presents an obvious idea like "There are no rules for making a blockbuster" or "failure sucks". It then presents a handful of producers saying the same thing or slight variations of the phrase such as "There aren't any rules to making hits" or "There's no formula for making blockbusters" Intercut with the interviews are newspaper and trade magazine headlines that show the same phrase and small clips of different movies.

There is really no substance or insights in this movie. There aren't even any hard facts. It's a shame, too, because there are some really interesting people interviewed on the documentary. Too bad they just asked them the same softball clichéd questions. I would have loved to hear some insider stories, or just anything with some "meat" to it.

To sum it up it's a completely uninspired waste of time.

I found out about this 75 minute HBO doc in an issue of ASC. The article touted a bill of big Hollywood players; studio heads, producers and actors. I was intrigued so had to watch it.

I am very interested in how Hollywood works and read Variety/Screen/Premiere, and also check out IMDb's daily news. You get a sense of the workings of the big studios but rarely do studio heads lay it out on the table, and that is where you hoped Boffo! would be revealing.

Unfortunately it plays as some sort of AFI/Oscar ceremony montage of great Hollywood movies, past and present, with the interviewees giving very OBVIOUS quotes such as "rules are there to be broken" and "success and failure balances on a very fine line." Sure, if you're a fan of film, then surely you wanna hear anything Bogdanovich, Evans, Grazer and Guber have to say. But if you want to hear some revealing comments you better off sticking to the trades.

It seems the director wanted to avoid focusing on the flops. Heaven's Gate is not mentioned ONCE. Disasters like Cutthroat Island, Battlefield Earth, Gigli, The Avengers, The Postman and Town & Country are not mentioned, yet are prime material to devour and assess. You look at these films and the main reason they flopped was because of the egos behind them: Costner, Beatty, Travolta, Cimino, Harlin. Then you have the excess of Hollywood. The extravagance of their budgets and the ridiculous costs of marketing. Somehow these topics are barely talked about. Why not venture into The Cable Guy when Columbia went nuts and gave Carrey a 20 mill pay check and changed the film industry forever?

An interesting point was made that spending more money can sometimes be a safer bet, like with Troy. Sure, it cost one or two hundred million dollars to make, but it made back double because it seemed like a sure fire winner. Compare that with Training Day, Denzel winning the Oscar, costing maybe less than a third of Troy, yet not grossing nearly as much. But these passing comments are not delved into. It's almost as if there was no structure to the filming. Let's get as many big names as we can, ask them some questions, and see what we can get in the edit. It would have been more fruitful cutting the number of people in half and focusing on a few films as opposed to allowing them run riot with pointless anecdotes on the making of Jaws which any self respecting Hollywood fan would already know about! The importance of the script, of course, is mentioned. You know why? Because it's the first thing you learn at film school, because the most important part of a film is the STORY. Sure, there are exceptions. Bad stories have made lots of money, but in general, if you look at the most successful films in the history of film, you will see most of them consist of good storytellers telling good stories.

But it is all the other factors that Boffo! could and should have focused on.

There is a great moment when Morgan Freeman is asked about The Bonfire of the Vanities, and why it flopped (despite having the box office lifetime guarantee hallmark of Tom Hanks) and whether there was any sign during production. The great Freeman is very VERY delicate with his words, pausing for what seems like a whole minute before concluding; "when an airline crashes they say that it is mostly a series of mishaps...same thing." And that my friends is the closest you will get to any sort of directed criticism made in the entire film.

More prescient is the fact that Richard Dreyfuss harks on about the importance of the story and how filmmakers today have all this great technology but do not know how to use it. It just so happens he is conducting the interview, in glorious bloody makeup on the back-lot of Poseidon, 2006's first major summer SFX flop! So all in all a big disappointment, but still containing enjoyable nuggets if only because the likes of Clooney, Dreyfuss, Freeman and DeVito are as charismatic as ever!

On a side note, if anyone wants to see how stars should be lit then look no further. ASC member Stephen Lighthill did a sterling job and made everyone look fantastic.