The Independent

2000 comedy

Rating: 13/20

Plot: B-movie director Morty Fineman, director of 427 films, is in the twilight of his career. He wants to make a movie based on the life of a serial killer (a musical), but is finding it impossible to find financial backers despite getting help from his estranged daughter. He owes loads already and tries desperately to find a way to make money to continue doing what he loves to do--make motion pictures with lots of topless women and some sort of trendy political message.

I'd never heard of this and wasn't sure if Jerry Stiller could really carry an entire movie, but it's really pretty funny and Ben's dad does a great job playing, I assume, the exact same character he always plays. He's not exactly versatile like his son. I like the mockumentary style, but this doesn't stick consistently with that genre and moves into more of a straight narrative and sort of loses focus. The funniest bits are the clips from his movies (titles like 12 Angry Men and a Baby and my favorite title, World War III II) and the interview cameos with people like Ron Howard and Peter Bogdanovich. There's also a filmography running alongside the credits which is amusing; check it out on wikipedia. Venus de Mofo; Neat but Not Clean; One-Eyed Wink; What Planet Is This? (Oh My God It's Earth!); Assassin in a See-Through Blouse; Unknown Epidemic, Run!; A Stranger Wears My Pants; Go Tell It on the Mountain, Just Get the Hell out of My House!; A Very Malcolm Xmas; Talkin' Dirty to the Dead; Pong: The Movie; The Bodacious Oasis; (Steam Rises as) The Hup Swamp; and The Man with Two Things are all movies I'd pay to see. Actually, that list is probably better than the movie. Just read it. And if you think it's funny, you'll probably laugh at least three times while watching the movie.

I wonder what a much-maligned guy who wears poker shirts to poker games would think of this movie. . .