The Auteur Theory

I just watched this movie on the The Movie Channel about an hour ago, and frankly, I must say that I am shocked to see that the 18 people who voted for it here averaged a 7.0 in their ratings of it. The plot is already explained here so I won't go into it, but I really must voice that I thought this was a truly awful movie. I understand that that may be "part of the point", the "in" joke on independent filmmaking, but what I viewed was a thoroughly - and at times, painfully - bad film. The art of satire is to mirror life while leaving an artist's touch (of opinion); however, if this is dir. Evan Oppenheimer's genuine take on indie films, he is missing something big. The basic idea for "The Auteur Theory" really isn't bad, but the script and acting are so genuinely awful that they really make it impossible for this film to convey itself as any kind of a legitimate satire. Maybe I'm just missing something, I don't know, or perhaps I don't know enough about the inner circles of independent film-making to be able to see how this film succeeds; but if that is the case, then what are we supposed to think of a film so "smart" that its audience doesn't even get it?

Or maybe, this was simply a bad film by a bad director who failed to convey his criticisms, let alone cast them as satire. If this is the case, then bam!, you hit the mark Oppenheimer.

The Auteur Theory tries hard to be a quietly clever comedy about a self proclaimed "documentary filmmaker" , who believes his work deserves attention and appreciation, and his umpteenth effort to pitch an idea to the snooty bigwigs at the BBC that will open the door to his long delayed stardom and career in filmmaking. Alan Cox plays GEORGE SANDS, the documentary filmmaker, and before he even sits down in front of the snoots, they are ready once again to reject him and send him packing. But he is determined that they should listen to him this time. He had gone to a film festival to shoot a documentary about film festivals when he became "involved in something much much bigger". This movie is not the best of its genre. It's hard even to describe the genre...maybe a comedic mystery. Cox is amusing but Natasha Lyonne, who plays a fellow filmmaker, is really dull and lifeless here. The character's wardrobe seemed interesting, but I have to say her personality was far less colorful. I liked Lyonne better in her other movies. The funniest thing about this film is the films depicted within, the horrible, unintentionally funny student films, especially "The Crap Shoot of Life".

Just caught this on The Movie Channel. Downside: it's occasionally a little goofy. Upside: it's really funny most of the time, and more than that, it's INCREDIBLY clever. Looking forward to more and bigger films from this guy.

If you've seen a lot of independent films, and have a sense of humor about them (i.e. appreciate them but can laugh at some of the absurdities of them and their world), you should really enjoy this film. It's got a lot of inside jokes about student and low-budget filmmaking, but also lots of stuff that the average moviegoer should catch. Also, a very cool cast. Natasha Lyonne from "Slums of Beverly Hills" and "American Pie" is one of the stars, and there are lots of other recognizable faces.

Caught this movie on Showtime. Very funny writing, some really clever directing (especially in the intentionally-bad student films). Suffered a bit from what I call "first film-itis", but that's not really a big deal. Actors did a good job.

Film was obviously done on a low budget, but the filmmakers did a good job of taking advantage of that, as much as they could. I would've been glad to have caught this on the big screen.

I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.