Plot

The Cannes Film Festival. It's where deals get made, producers get laid, and stars get paid. It's where all the movie industry meets to buy and sell all the movies on the planet. And it's where the art of the deal can be filled with more laughs than the deal itself. Sy Lerner, the quintessential movie producer, makes a bet that he can take any kid off the street and turn him into a superstar overnight using the universal language of the festival: hype. He meets Frank Rhinoslavsky and turns him into "Frank Rhino, one of the hottest screenwriters to hit Cannes since Faulkner and Hemingway". It's not long before celebrities and producers are lining up to meet this hot young star. Dennis Hopper, Treat Williams, Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, and more, all want to meet the "next Quentin Tarantino". Sy charms them with his own particular blend of hype and substance, and by the end of the festival he has lined up one of the great casts of all time. But Sy Lerner still has a few tricks up his sleeve for his wife, Frank Rhino, and the myriad of people who have invested in this nonexistent, non-scripted film: He drops dead. All the money the invested in his film goes up in smoke. But in the end, Sy Lerner has pulled the ultimate con, making him truly the one and only "Cannes Man".—Clint Weiler

Film producer Sy Lerner makes a bet with a fellow film executive that he can turn any nobody into a star at the Cannes Film Festival. A New York cab driver who is visiting the festival is chosen as the test subject to settle the bet and Sy uses his skills of hype and manipulation to turn the cab driver, Frank, into the talk of the town. Many celebrities make cameos throughout the film.—Josh Pasnak <chainsaw@intouch.bc.ca>