Pittsburgh

I had to look up this movie, just to make sure it wasn't a documentary. As one description said, it really tightropes the line between mockumentary and movie. At some points, you think the stars are being very self absorbed, as opposed to being self-effacing. And you start to wonder if it is funny or sad, in a Hollywood "out of touch with reality" sort of way. All you have to do is pay attention to the Ed Begley Jr. segments to see that this is at once, a vehicle for the actors to promote their true feelings, and a way to promote them in a mockumentary format.

It is very much is the improv style of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". As a viewer, if you put yourself in this mode, I think you will find this movie very funny,.

This was a huge misfire--and the outtakes on the DVD show that it could have easily been a lot better! Pittsburg is a mockumentary in the Christopher Guest mold--and that's not a compliment these days. Though Guest's early mocks, like "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show" were classics, his more recent forays into the form have been virtually laughless exercises. Guest's excuse for cutting out the more absurd funny stuff in his later films was that the material didn't fit the reality he'd created--in other words, he fell in love with mediocrity. Well, this Guest-wannabe falls into the latter-day Guestomentary category. The concept is mildly clever--what would happen if the singularly weird, very ethnic Jeff Goldblum was convinced to play the very whitebread lead in a community theater production of the happyface 50s musical, The Music Man? Well, the filmmakers take that promising concept and suck all the humor and life right out of it. There is simply NOTHING funny OR interesting here! The film wouldn't even be interesting if it were actually a true documentary! But--and here's the weird part--if you watch the deleted scenes on the DVD, you get to see all kinds of stuff that was actually kind of funny, and was purposely cut out! It's incredible! You listen to the directors' commentary during the deleted scenes and every time something funny happens they say they had to cut it out either because (1) it didn't fit the "tone" of the piece or (2) it didn't advance the story. I have news for them about the film as it was released: (1) the "tone" they achieved in the film was one of torpor, repetition, and boredom and (2) there is no story being advanced. The stuff they cut out wasn't brilliant--but it was at least SOMETHING. As it is, Pittsburg, the film, is as close to NOTHING as you can get.

Filmed in the style of Christopher Guest...kinda...this is a mock documentary (known as a "mocumentary" or "mockumentary") wherein Jeff Goldblum puts his film career (and his manager) on hold for a few months so that he can star in a live stage performance in Pittsburgh, his home town. Added into the mix are his "girlfriend," who needs a green card and thinks Jeff's presence on stage with her will guarantee her for the job and therein guarantee her green card, and Ed Begley, Jr. who seems to need small (but regular) pletoratic doses of anti-psychotics.

It is not funny, but it is witty, and actually pretends to attempt to document an actual event, at least insofar as Jeff Goldblum DID do a live stage play in Pittsburgh with the girl mentioned, and Pittsburgh IS his home town. It is not genius on film, but it does entertain and amuse. Not bad for what it is, but like Goldblum, it is an acquired taste.

It rates a 6.6/10 from...

the Fiend :.

The premise is that Jeff Goldblum is miscast as the lead a hometown production of The Music Man, but he takes it so seriously it doesn't feel like a joke. Not to mention that he's not even that bad. It sets itself up like it's going to be a great prank, but the whole thing might as well be real. Nobody ends up more than mildly flustered with Goldblum's performance, and the production itself ends up getting a standing ovation. Who is the joke supposed to be on? The whole affair ends up being too real. It's truly as boring as watching a bonus feature documentary on a Hollywood actor doing a small production musical.

The 2 is for a handful of lines that made me chuckle, but even Goldblum fans should skip this. I recommend it to no one.

Contrary to most, I must say I did like this movie. At first I thought I wouldn't as it seemed just a documentary, but after a while it became engrossing. Maybe because I started out in show biz myself and in these regional type of productions too, so it all came back as realistic to me. I wouldn't have thought Jeff Goldblum could pull it off as a song and dance man, after seeing him in The Fly and Jurassic Park, but he did rather well, I thought. Maybe a bit too much mugging off stage as well as on, but on the whole, viewable and he worked very hard on this. I wondered what is it with the gum chewing all the way through? The movie gave a true sense of theater life on the amateur, regional level, and I suppose, other than Jeff and Ed Begley, none were Union and so were not paid, certainly not the children. I noticed the choreographer, who also acted a bit, is uncredited, yet every child no matter how insignificant is sure to be named. That's Civic Theater for you! Oh, he is listed on the movie credits at end of film but not on this site, but they often don't give the choreographer credit and if they do it's listed even below the location driver! Not fair at all! I well remember the film of Music Man with Robert Preston but could never figure out how 76 trombones would fit on any stage! But with a bit of stagecraft they did. I saw Music Man back during the 70s in the London West End with Van Johnson (sadly now (December 2008) gone at age 92) in the lead role.