Twenty Million People
PARK CITY Satires about Hollywood are always a risky business. They can often seem too self-referential and exclusive to connect with a wide audience. And yet there have been classics in the genre, dating all the way back to “Singin’ in the Rain.” The HBO hit series “Entourage” was filled with wicked insider laughs. But “The Deal,” which had its world premiere here Tuesday night as part of the Sundance Film Festival’s Premieres section, is a crazy Hollywood satire that never catches fire.
It started out as a novel by Peter Lefcourt, who worked in Hollywood himself and has more recently become known as a novelist. But this is one of those wild comic stories that probably worked better on the page. When something is translated into the more literal language of film, it needs some minimal grounding in reality something this movie lacks.
OK: Charlie Berns (William H. Macy) is a washed-up producer on the verge of suicide when his nephew (Jason Ritter) shows up at his door with a new script based on Benjamin Disraeli’s life. Admittedly, it sounds like a tough sell; however, it turns out that Hollywood’s biggest black action star, Bobby Mason (LL Cool J), has just converted to Judaism and wants to do movies with Jewish themes.
You might think Disraeli would be an odd fit for Bobby, but Charlie has decided to revamp and modernize it. So it becomes “Ben Disraeli, Freedom Fighter,” which allows for plenty of mayhem along with Hebrew blessings for the star to deliver while he’s kicking butt.
So far so good: On paper, this might sound funny or at least amusing but it’s so far-fetched that we don’t buy any of it for one minute. This might have been less of an issue if the script were wittier; however, the laughs are few and far between, so we’re left to marvel at the unlikeliness of all these plot turns. The film bears some resemblance to Steve Martin’s “Bowfinger,” another movie about a failed producer trying to make a picture with a successful black action star. But that film, while equally strained in its logic, was uproariously funny thanks to brilliant writing and performances.
Nothing in “The Deal” seems remotely plausible at all; it has been adapted by Macy and director Steven Schachter, longtime pals who collaborated on several well-received TV movies. The script’s implausibility extends to Charlie’s relationship with a savvy studio executive, Deidre Hearn (Meg Ryan).
At first, Deidre is understandably wary of Charlie, but once she finds out that her studio has been sold to a Canadian company, she gets drunk and jumps into bed with him a leap that is almost impossible to accept. But even smaller plot points defy credibility: When a studio suit shows up to shut down the production, Charlie decides he’ll distract him with a hooker. OK, fine we’ll buy that she manages to keep him from going to the set for three hours. But three days?
Macy does bring enormous energy to his role; Ryan also gives a smart performance when the script doesn’t require her character to behave preposterously. Most of the supporting players are rather flat; however, Elliott Gould has an amusing cameo as Bobby’s rabbi friend who gets hired as an associate producer on the film.
The movie was primarily filmed in South Africa, where the film inside the film is set to cost less. Without a doubt, this must have been why they did the location work for “The Deal” too. The technical credits are good. However, it will probably do poorly at the box office.
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