College Downtime Movie Review
Written by Hollowman - November 5th, 2004

Paparazzi (2004)

Starring: Cole Hauser, Robin Tunney, Daniel Baldwin, Tom Sizemore

Director: Paul Abascal
Rated: R
Rating: * *

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There is an underlining problem with “Paparazzi”, and it’s that the film really doesn’t know what it wants to be. At first, it has the potential to be a social commentary on both sides of the camera. More specifically, the invasion of privacy on celebrities and the way in which they are forced to deal with it, and the obsession that the photographers have in doing what they do (are they missing something in their lives that their jobs fulfill, do they see it as just a job? Etc.). But, after the first act, it ends up dumbing itself down to a regular action flick in which the cops are too stupid to do anything productive except suspect everybody and their sister, and the only solution is revenge.

The film’s plot is an interesting one with a massive amount of potential to be a captivating thriller. It’s about upcoming action star Bo Laramie (played by Cole Hauser from “Pitch Black” and “2 Fast 2 Furious”). He has been shot into star quality by his film “Adrenaline Force” and is currently working on the sequel. However, being famous, as we all know, comes at a price. And it’s having to deal with the press, especially the Paparazzi. Things start going bad for Bo when he confronts a group of Paparazzi led by Rex (Tom Sizemore), one of the sleaziest members of the media I’ve ever seen. When Bo settles it by punching Rex down, Rex sues him and forces him to take anger management courses. But it doesn’t stop there. Obsessed with getting a public apology from Bo, Rex is determined to make is life a nightmare until he does. Rex and his photographer buddies do so by chasing Bo and his family down on the empty road (funny how there’s never anyone else on the usually busy roads during these moments), pinning them in and taking their pictures. The flashes pretty much blind Bo (who is driving) and send him into a pick-up truck. It kills the trucker driver, injures Bo and his wife, and puts his son in a coma. Bo, now obsessed with hunting down and killing these men, goes on an insane plotting scheme to do so. If you can’t see what happens after this, well then you need to smarten yourself up a bit and figure it out.

The main problem with “Paparazzi” is the script, credited to Forrest Smith. He confuses the film with too many directions that it takes off in and throws common sense right out of the window. Even his characters take different styles of themselves. Bo is originally portrayed as the simple man from a small Montana town and grew up with thug like qualities. He turned his life around and became the star that he’s growing to be. Um, last time I checked, small town thugs have never really been too intelligent to outsmart their enemies or even the cops in a scheme that relies on knowing exactly how they will act in situations, what they’re going to do on every day, and where they’re going to be. But Bo becomes a guy who you would think was the leader of a Navy Seal platoon. He’s able to figure out the Paparazzi guys’ next step before anyone else does.

Okay, fine. Though it doesn’t fit well, I could still live with that character scenario. But it becomes unbearable when the other main character does the same. Rex (who Tom Sizemore brings out the best of as far as his sleaze ball characteristics go) is the guy who is at the top of the Paparazzi totem pole. He’s a legend among photographers and doesn’t mind reminding people about it. However, there’s a scene in which the photographers are at a night club a discussing why he’s so great. Yet, Rex says that though he was hiding in the bushes at Jennifer Lopez’s house for days to get her picture of her naked ass, the picture that he released was actually that of a maid. How does turning fake pictures in make you the best? People are the best because their work is quality and tangible. Also, the script wants to make people hate the Paparazzi people more than what they actually do. Instead of focusing so much of what the four goons do, the film keeps playing on how these guys are just bad people with a rap sheet that would make O.J. Simpson cringe.

“Paparazzi” is a film that needs to rely on its characters’ development and the dialogue between them. It instead becomes nothing more than a rock ‘em sock ‘em flick about revenge. This would have been fine if that’s all that it tried to be, but it tries to be a social commentary as well. Mixing action with meaningful and socially relevant topics happens all of the time and has worked out beautifully (“X-Men”). The reason “Paparazzi” fails is that instead of combing action and suspense with social commentary, it tries to be just one or the other. Nothing in it is stable, not even the characters.

On a closing note, the character Bo Laramie, is played by Cole Hauser and the two are supposed to mirror each other. While Bo has had some success as secondary characters in previous films, “Adrenaline Force” is supposed to skyrocket him into super stardom. Cole Hauser is hoping to have the same success. He’s had some recognition in supporting roles in films like “Pitch Black” and “2 Fast 2 Furious”, but “Paparazzi” is supposed to do the same thing that “Adrenaline Force” does for his counterpart. Unfortunately for Cole, his and Bo’s paralleling are not going to go the whole way. This is not to say the Cole is not a talented actor. He does as much as he can with his character, but without a quality film, he’s going to have to wait for the success that Bo is getting.

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