An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn

Real life director Alan Smithee is an editor by trade but is signed up to direct the action movie `Trio' starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sly Stallone and Jackie Chan. However when the producer's final cut leaves it, in Alan's opinion, a mess, he steals the master negative and runs. This documentary follows the story of what happens when a director is forced to watch his art turned into a poor money spinner.

I hadn't really read the very negative reviews of this film before I watched it and am a little surprised by the strength of feeling from the majority of the critics. Having said that, I can understand why this film is so hammered – as it really isn't very good. It started well and I thought it had potential – it seemed that people were making fun of themselves and that it would be a good satire on the industry and in particular, studio execs. However after a certain point it doesn't really do very much other than be flabby, repeating, self indulgent and silly. After Alan actually takes his film and seeks refuge with the Brothers Brothers, the film is very messy and not very funny at all. The documentary approach had worked well up till this point but from here it was a strange mix of action and documentary. It gets increasingly silly and increasingly less clever and funny.

It had a few laughs but satire is meant to be funny – not just taking easy pot shots with crude characterisations and jokes. I still maintain it had potential but it is a good idea crying out for a better script and director (I notice it is directed by Smithee – I don't know if that's a joke or if the real director really did disown it). So from a good idea it goes nowhere – the little touches are nice but the total plot is rubbish. In away it is both made worse and more bearable by the actors, who are a mixed bunch.

Eric Idol is awful and he simply doesn't suit the material – watch the scene where he turns his hat sideways and says `cool' and you'll see what I mean. Chuck D should really have known better than to deliver a meaningless performance here – although I totally expect that from Coolio! However, Stallone, Goldberg and Chan are all quite funny and make fun of themselves quite well. O'Neal and colleague as the producers are quite good but are dumbly stretched to extremes for the sake of humour. For the majority of the cast there seems to be a problem gelling – it feels like every single person thinks they are in a cameo and thus add to the feeling of this not being a film so much as a cobbled together affair. The support cast is good for names but the quality of delivery isn't really that high.

Overall I'd stop short of adding to the list of boots that have been put into this film, but I'd be lying if I told you I didn't feel like I'd waste 90 minutes – I do. It started with a good idea but the script was nowhere near sharp enough and the majority of the cast (certainly those required to carry the film and not just be cameos) are just not up to the job. Could have been a fun satire but instead is an unfunny messy affair that doesn't really have anywhere to go beyond taking easy shots at the producers.

I saw this movie like, three years ago on HBO, or something, and I thought it was awesome. So I decided to see what people on the net had to say about it, and I was shocked. Apparently everyone and there mother hates this film. I don't know why. Sure it's no masterpiece, but only a handful of movies are. When Roger Ebert said it was worst than Showgirls, he went too far. At worst, I expected reviews like 2/5 stars, or 4.5/10 points. Instead I got things like 0 stars, something I didn't even know existed. I could see people didn't like the way the actors looked at the screen (even though it was a mockumentary), or the way you can't care too much for any one character (even though it's a satire, in which society as a whole should look bad). The movie has an odd flow to it (is that bad?), which I found cool. I Don't see why people can praise films like "Memento" (which told a story in an unconventional way, just like "Burn"), or "Spinal Tap" (which has no real plot, just like "Burn"), and not give this movie, and at least average review. If you can find it, watch it and decide for yourself, don't take the word of these flakers and perpetrators.

'Burn Hollywood Burn' isn't bad. It's actually entertaining if you have a twisted, shameless enough fascination with the mechanics of the entertainment industry, as I do. The lying, deceiving and stonewalling tactics played out all over the story (such as it is) shows us one comical scenario of Tinseltown. My favorite bits were the cameo scenes by producer Robert Evans. For him to get in front of the camera again after so many years took some cajones. He plays it very cool though, Mr. Blame-It-On-The-Bossa-Nova. I rented the flick for two bucks one night, it was worth the two bucks.

How could this many people hate a film so much? I'm giving it a 10 just so the average will go up a little. If you liked spinal tap and Waiting for Guffman then this movie is a must, but like spinal tap, it's all about dialog, like Stallone's observation of the immaculate conception in the Rocky movies truely great. If you are looking for a great action movie with big stars then the joke is on you. This is maybe the most realist portrail of how the movie business works maybe that's why people don't like this movie because it takes all the "magic" out it and shows how the public is completely "played" by the movie companies (people don't like it when a movie shows how easily the general public is manipulated). Much like another movie everybody hated "the last action hero" cars don't blow up when you shoot them, chances are you'll break your hand trying to punch your way through a windshield etc..

I laughed all the way though this movie from the first 5 seconds till the end (When I realized I had been duped). Maybe americans can't get it but I guess I was lucky. This is Ryan O' Neil's best role in years and Coolio and Chuck D are perfect as the Brother Brothers (Cosacks), Richard Jeni is classic. Its amazing the movie ever got made,,not because it's bad, but because it shows the blatant prostitution of the movie business.

This is a comedy and you are the joke,,,relax and laugh at yourself

I disagree with the people here saying this is one of the worst films ever made. I'm somewhat of a connosieur of bad films, and that just isn't the case. It's competently put together from front to back, but the script definitely could have used another draft or two.

At its worst, it's just unfunny, not mind-bendingly horrible as some would have you to believe. Certainly if you know nothing about the inner workings of Hollywood you won't understand the references and almost none of it will be funny.

I'm sure there were lots of references I didn't understand -- I get the feeling people working in Hollywood would get more out of this movie than the rest of us. One odd reference is the repeated name of "Michael Ovitz" throughout the movie. It appears in the song "I Wanna Be Michael Ovitz" in the soundtrack, there's a "Paging Dr. Ovitz..." in the background in a hospital, etc. It's not quite clear what writer Eszterhas's feelings toward Ovitz are -- does he hate him or look up to him?

Another thing I don't understand is why director Arthur Hiller felt he had to change his credit to "Alan Smithee", except that it's amusingly appropriate. Looking at the film, I can't imagine that it was changed too radically in the editing, except perhaps the ultra-acidic put-downs on the title cards that introduce new characters.