ridiculous rating

An Exercise In Nonsense

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Loved The Last Movie Star so I streamed this on Amazon. I came away underwhelmed. A little too much Penn Jillette for one movie and basically one joke about his character being obsessed with Missi Pyle.

Full disclosure I was part of the crowd funding for this movie. So understand also that the anticipation has been building for a very long time. Over the years we have been hearing how good the movie turned out but for a large part of us we have only just now got to see the final product. If I wasn't part of the crowd funding for this movie I would have still loved it. It had me laughing the whole way through. So often when trying to make a movie like this it comes across as trying too hard, however in this I think they managed to hit the right balance. Even though knowing so much about this movie going in didn't spoil it for us, I'm still going to give it some time before discussing some of the finer details. I will say this, you can't make a movie like this without an incredible group of talented people. Missi Pyle was simply phenomenal as always ;). I can't wait to watch this over and over again.

Since Laserdiscs and even more so DVDs and Blu Rays (and who knows what's next apart from streaming), the special feature that involves filmmakers and stars or crew commenting on the movie you're watching, the question is, if sometimes the movies may only be entertaining or watchable with the audio commentary on. It's certainly true with most films by Uwe Boll and it's a feature you get here for free.I do wonder if there will be an audio commentary for this one. Which would be breaking more than just a fourth wall, which the movie incidentally does already. It's funny and it's a gimmick, that does pay off if you like this sort of thing. Some jokes (most of them actually) are not really sophisticated, but rather low and simple. Still this was a lot of fun to watch and the actors obviously had fun doing this. Sit back, relax and enjoy this silly fun too then

Full disclosure: I contributed enough to the crowdfunding site to get invited to the premiere and meet Penn and Teller, so I would have enjoyed the experience even if the movie had been terrible. Luckily, it wasn't.The plot is pretty original. It's about - surprise - a crowd funded movie. One particular contributor - Herby Blount, played by Penn - donates enough money to hang out on the set and even film with his own hand-held camera. It turns out he's obsessed with Missi Pyle, who, like all the actors, plays herself. He uses his footage together with raw footage he steals from the movie to cobble together his own version of the movie, in which he's the hero. What we're supposedly watching is the director's cut of *that* movie, with his commentary. How meta is that? The result is something of a cross between a classic "movie within a movie" and a "found footage" documentary.It's really two separate movies. They create a good part of the movie "Knocked Off", a low budget but completely credible slasher/horror movie, and they also create Herby's amateurish additions and edits. During the Q&A, they claimed all of "his" editing and special effects were done with free software that a crazy person really could use.The acting is quite good. The main characters in the "movie" are Missi Pyle and Harry Hamlin. She in particular does a good job of playing both her role and herself playing her role.Of course, the whole thing is narrated via Herby's (Penn's) "director's commentary", and that's where all the humor comes in - and it is very funny.All in all, a quite enjoyable movie.