Starring:
Cole Hauser as Bo Laramie
Robin Tunney as Abby Laramie
Dennis Farina as Detective Burton
Daniel Baldwin as Wendell Stokes
Tom Hollander as Leonard Clark
Kevin Gage as Kevin Rosner
Blake Michael Bryan as Zach Laramie
Tom Sizemore as Rex Harper
Andrea Baker as Emily
Jordan Baker as Dr. Kelley
Joe Basile as Police Lab Tech
Lauren Birkell as Allison
Wendy Braun as Bo’s Publicist
Kelly Carlson as Kristin
Greg Castro as Policeman
Special Features:
Theatrical trailer
Making of featurette
Commentary by Director Paul Abascal
2 Deleted Scenes w/ Optional Commentary
Behind the Scenes Stunt Featurette
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1) and Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French and Spanish Language
Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:
“Action film superstar Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) has it all a beautiful wife, an adoring son and a Malibu beach house. But his fame also makes him the target of story-seeking photographers who want to exploit his private life. Led by “superstar” photographer Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore), the paparazzi become increasingly relentless, until one night Bo and his family are blindsided and nearly killed by a quartet of sleazy shutterbugs. And when they continue to target his wife and child, the enraged superstar begins a rampage of vengeance.”
Paparazzi is rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, sexual content and language.
The Movie:
At first glance, Paparazzi looks like nothing more than Hollywood’s wish of what it could do to the real paparazzi. You have to think that the creators were secretly happy fantasizing about killing these parasites that make their living by stalking celebrities. But Paparazzi is really a revenge tale and the whole celebrity angle is just a convenient way to set up the conflict between the characters. It’s an entertaining tale of violence and vengeance, but it is filled with plot holes and the trailers pretty much ruined every high point of the story. If you’ve seen those trailers then you’ve pretty much seen the whole film.
Cole Hauser is good as Bo Laramie, the rising star that is the target of the paparazzi. He’s not only tough and believable in the action scenes, but he’s also believable as the loving father and husband. You definitely sympathize with him as his life is intruded on by the slimy photographers. His experiences mirror those of celebrities in real life and some of the intrusions on his daily routine are ones that audiences may not realize take place. He is photographed at his kid’s soccer game, in the store, etc etc etc. The paparazzi even do dirty tricks to provoke him. It’s extreme, but it apparently really takes place (as shown by the death of Princess Di.)
Tom Sizemore is appropriately despicable as Rex Harper. He’s as slimy and evil as you’d expect him to be. Sizemore has had more than his fair share of paparazzi attention, so I guess he’s drawing on personal experience. Dennis Farina is also good as Detective Burton. There’s a little twist with his character that makes him interesting, but his ultimate decisions about Laramie and his paparazzi murders is quite predictable.
Ultimately Paparazzi is a decent revenge flick. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. If you haven’t seen the trailers then you’ll probably enjoy it more.
The Extras:
Here are the highlights of the bonus features:
Making of featurette This is your standard “making of” featurette that includes interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, and clips from the film. It does feature a few sound bytes from producer Mel Gibson.
Commentary by Director Paul Abascal This is a decent commentary, but it’s a little dry with just Abascal talking. However, he does have interesting stories form the set. He mentions that Sizemore started filming the day after he signed papers to be in the film. He also talks about real paparazzi tricks and more.
2 Deleted Scenes w/ Optional Commentary One deleted scene shows Bo and his family coming out of the party to see rowdy fans promising to follow his limo. He then makes the fateful decision to drive his own car.
Behind the Scenes Stunt Featurette This featurette discusses the stunts in the film. They highlight the car crash scene and the chase scene from Laramie’s cop film. This featurette is extremely flashy and uses a lot of editing tricks to the point that it seems over the top.
The Bottom Line:
Paparazzi is a decent revenge flick, but the trailers for it give away almost the entire film.
