I LOVE YOUR WORK
Directed by: Adam Goldberg.
Produced by: Adam Goldberg, Chris Hanley & David Hillary.
Written by: Adrian Butchart & Adam Goldberg.
Director of Photography: Mark Putnam.
Edited by: Zack Bell, Adam Goldberg & John Valerio.
Music by: Steven Drozd & Adam Goldberg.
Released by: THINKFilm.
Country of Origin: USA. 111 min. Rated: R.
With: Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, Joshua Jackson, Marisa Coughlan, Christina Ricci, Jared Harris, Judy Greer & Jason Lee.

When famed actor Gray Evans (Giovanni Ribisi) walks into a small Los Angeles video store, he sparks a friendship with the store's owner, aspiring director John (Joshua Jackson), who is such a fan of the actor that just the other day he wrote Evans an embarrassingly gushing letter. His admission flatters the star, but we already knew this - as did Evans when he walked into John's store. The premeditated coincidence begins Evans' obsession with John, whom Evans will stalk and alternately believe he is being stalked by.

The film's engaging beginning roots Evans in a world with which he has little intimacy - his failing relationship with fellow superstar Mia Long (Franka Potente), his dreams of Shana (Christina Ricci), who is either a memory or imaginary, and his burgeoning relationship with John and his wife, which is based on delusion and depressive need. But what begins as an original portrayal of a man broken by fame loses its edge by trying hard to be edgy.

From obvious film references to Vincent Gallo-like extremes of self-indulgence, Goldberg’s symposium on cinematic fame alternates between obvious observations and abstractions that are more tiring than illuminating. Involved in almost every aspect of the film’s production, Goldberg casts himself as (at least) three different extras. Having cast other famous people in a movie about famous people (indicated in the press packet as his friends, at that), Goldberg also seems to have directed Ribisi to emulate the director, in a script that blames almost everyone else in society for Evans’ ever-so-tragic fame.

The self-conscious focus feels pointless - which admittedly, may be the point. But if so, audiences can do better seeing the films that Goldberg pays homage to because it's been done before and it's been done better. (There are sequences that mimic Frederico Fellini's 8 1/2 and Woody Allen's Stardust Memories in framing, dialogue, and vaguely similar settings.) It would also help if the supporting cast could act. The celebrity cameos by Elvis Costello and Vince Vaughn feel more alive than the enormous ensemble of B-list actors that saturate the film. While it may be true that these characters were meant to feel flat as yet another comment on false realities, this is not something that makes watching a two hour film enjoyable or desirable. At least when it comes to fame and cinema reality, Andy Warhol kept it fun when he invented this shtick. Zachary Jones
December 2, 2005