Paparazzi: Movie & DVD Review (2004)

(Originally published 2004)

This shameless camp thriller comes from first-time director Paul Abascal, a former celebrity hairdresser who apparently heard one too many paparazzi horror stories from his privileged clientele while teasing and bleaching their locks.

As such, “Paparazzi” has a predictable mean streak—it’s the work of a man who likely wants to keep that clientele happy should this directing thing of his not work out.

That turns out to be the brightest move in an otherwise dumb movie. Deadly serious yet unintentionally funny, “Paparazzi” is a self-conscious, fired-up revenge fantasy that some will find difficult to sit through without offering up the occasional snort and giggle.

Written by first-time screenwriter Forrest Smith, the film exists to humiliate, taunt and then destroy the legion of photographers whose job it is to photograph celebrities. You know, those folks who must keep themselves in the public eye even though there are moments when they’d rather not be photographed, such as when they’ve put on a few pounds, go out for a night of partying, or when they’re cheating on their spouse.

Since the filmmakers have no interest in fair play or in examining the complexities of celebrity privacy, this is adolscent, tit-for-tat moviemaking, the equivalent of hair pulling. Producer Mel Gibson bankrolled this beauty, and wouldn’t you know that it follows the life of an action superstar not unlike Gibson himself.

Studly yet wholly naïve, Cole Hauser’s Bo Laramie is a family man who inexplicably becomes the hottest celebrity in Hollywood on the basis of one movie--a slim-looking action flick called “Adrenaline Force.”

At the start, Bo has a dream life that includes a beautiful wife (Robin Tunney), a cute 6-year-old son, and now sudden wealth and fame. When he gets his first taste of the paparazzi, it’s at the premiere for his latest movie, with the cameras snapping blindingly around him. Sleazeball photographer Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore) enjoys Bo’s discomfort so much, he decides to focus solely on this newcomer, thus fogoing the dozens of other, bigger Hollywood stars that could earn him more money.

When Rex and his photog cronies chase Bo and his family one evening through the streets of Hollywood, the flash of their cameras blind Bo, thus leaving him in a massive car accident reminiscent of the one that killed Diana, Princes of Wales. It’s a cheap shot and, when it happens, you can’t believe the filmmakers went there. But there you have it. That all of them near death in the car—and the paparazzi are taking photos of all of it.

What enuses is Bo’s revenge, with Bo himself realizing the great star perk. Apparently, in spite of being dogged by a detective (Dennis Farina) who thinks his Columbo, you can kill the paparazzi without behing held accountable for their deaths.

When it’s at its mincing best, the movie treats us to this sort of dialogue: “I’ve got two dead paparazzis on my hands.”

Can I get them wholesale? Probably not. Washing his own hands of this middling effort would have been a shrewd move by Abascal, whose own roots obviously have been fried a few too many times.

Grade: D