Hey, Buuuuuddy...
My Film 2 teacher, who looks like he could shape up to be either a pretentious hardass or an endearing psychopath, made a big deal on the first day of class of how we, as film students, should see as many movies in the theater as possible, and that he sees several hundred a year. He says that this is our true film school, and by seeing movies as they were meant to be seen, we enlighten ourselves in the art of making movies.
I've seen one movie in the theater so far this year. And that movie is Pauly Shore Is Dead.
My decision to see this movie was even more snap than most decisions I make; I had no plans on seeing it until 11 o'clock Friday night, when I got an IM from Aldon:
"So, are you going?"
"Umm... Where?"
"Pauly Shore is appearing at Coolidge Corner at midnight and showing his new movie."
"Yes. Yes, I am."
Knowing a good thing when I hear it, I immediately dropped what I was doing (which is to say, playing Solitaire and listening to Esquivel), suited up, and took the first train to Coolidge, where I met Aldon, Colin, and a couple of Aldon's friends from back home. We then proceeded to wait half an hour in the freezing cold for them to let us in. Colin definitely had the best line: "Wow... All these people think they're being clever by paying money to see Pauly Shore!" It should probably be noted that this included us.
Eventually, they let us in, and the Wiez himself took the stage to talk about how he made the movie ("...Hollywood decided they didn't want me in any movies, so I said, 'Fuck it,' and I made it myself!") and fielded questions from the audience. A typical excerpt from the Q&A:
PAULY: Yes, you, in the front.
(Pause)
DRUNKEN AUDIENCE MEMBER: Bio-Dome was awesome!
(wild applause)
PAULY: Thanks, man! Okay, who's next? You, the fuckin' retard in the back.
(pause)
PAULY: That shut you up, didn't it?
(wild applause)
By the time the movie started, I was really excited: I was seeing the new Pauly Shore movie, in the theater, with Pauly Shore sitting just a few rows in front of me!! (Not to mention screaming for the projectionist to turn it up). It wasn't until about five minutes in, when they showed footage of Pauly's classic MTV spots, that I had a sudden, chilling realization:
"Wait a minute-- I hate Pauly Shore!"
The plot, if you're interested, is that Pauly Shore, following the failure of his Fox sitcom, sinks to poverty and alcoholism, until Sam Kinison's ghost appears to him and encourages him to kill himself (apparently, Kinison babysat for Shore, which explains his near-beatification in the film, and why Bill Hicks is roundly ignored in the "comedians who died young" voiceovers). Instead, Shore fakes his death, which causes the cream of the Hollywood crop (more on them later) to suddenly embrace his genius. This lasts a few weeks, until a little girl recognizes him, reports him, and he gets arrested (huh?). In jail and hated again, Shore decides to become a real actor.
This plot, it should be noted, frequently seems like a framing device for cameos by every single celebrity on the planet. A lot of these are either the annoyingly ubiquitous (Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Whoopi Goldberg) or the utterly baffling (Michael Madsen literally wanders in and out of a scene), but some are genuinely funny: Bill Maher watches Shore's sitcom and mutters, "God, I hate this country!"; Rico Suave stops Shore on the street and tries to sell him oranges; and Todd "Willis" Bridges is way more dignified than he has any need to be as Shore's cellmate in the celebrity wing of the LA prison. And Jason Mewes' appearance as the MC of a Pauly Shore lookalike contest made me smile, just because, c'mon, it's fuckin' Jay.
Truth be told, I actually kinda liked this movie. Yeah, it's dumb, and it's that same strain of self-referential humor that's been shoved down your throat since the day after Austin Powers opened (oh, yeah, Verne Troyer's in this too), but it's got a fun, shaggy-dog feel to it, and the scenes of Shore's decline play the self-deprecation thing well. And I genuinely respect the "Fuck you, Hollywood" sentiment that got the movie made. Of course, all of this does little to reverse the fact that I hate fuckin' Pauly Shore.
Speaking of the Wiez, after the movie ended, a Coolidge usher took the mic: "Uhh... Pauly seems to have left halfway through the movie. But he says for all of you to tell your friends to come tomorrow night." Somehow, I like that. Call it a double-negative.
I've seen one movie in the theater so far this year. And that movie is Pauly Shore Is Dead.
My decision to see this movie was even more snap than most decisions I make; I had no plans on seeing it until 11 o'clock Friday night, when I got an IM from Aldon:
"So, are you going?"
"Umm... Where?"
"Pauly Shore is appearing at Coolidge Corner at midnight and showing his new movie."
"Yes. Yes, I am."
Knowing a good thing when I hear it, I immediately dropped what I was doing (which is to say, playing Solitaire and listening to Esquivel), suited up, and took the first train to Coolidge, where I met Aldon, Colin, and a couple of Aldon's friends from back home. We then proceeded to wait half an hour in the freezing cold for them to let us in. Colin definitely had the best line: "Wow... All these people think they're being clever by paying money to see Pauly Shore!" It should probably be noted that this included us.
Eventually, they let us in, and the Wiez himself took the stage to talk about how he made the movie ("...Hollywood decided they didn't want me in any movies, so I said, 'Fuck it,' and I made it myself!") and fielded questions from the audience. A typical excerpt from the Q&A:
PAULY: Yes, you, in the front.
(Pause)
DRUNKEN AUDIENCE MEMBER: Bio-Dome was awesome!
(wild applause)
PAULY: Thanks, man! Okay, who's next? You, the fuckin' retard in the back.
(pause)
PAULY: That shut you up, didn't it?
(wild applause)
By the time the movie started, I was really excited: I was seeing the new Pauly Shore movie, in the theater, with Pauly Shore sitting just a few rows in front of me!! (Not to mention screaming for the projectionist to turn it up). It wasn't until about five minutes in, when they showed footage of Pauly's classic MTV spots, that I had a sudden, chilling realization:
"Wait a minute-- I hate Pauly Shore!"
The plot, if you're interested, is that Pauly Shore, following the failure of his Fox sitcom, sinks to poverty and alcoholism, until Sam Kinison's ghost appears to him and encourages him to kill himself (apparently, Kinison babysat for Shore, which explains his near-beatification in the film, and why Bill Hicks is roundly ignored in the "comedians who died young" voiceovers). Instead, Shore fakes his death, which causes the cream of the Hollywood crop (more on them later) to suddenly embrace his genius. This lasts a few weeks, until a little girl recognizes him, reports him, and he gets arrested (huh?). In jail and hated again, Shore decides to become a real actor.
This plot, it should be noted, frequently seems like a framing device for cameos by every single celebrity on the planet. A lot of these are either the annoyingly ubiquitous (Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Whoopi Goldberg) or the utterly baffling (Michael Madsen literally wanders in and out of a scene), but some are genuinely funny: Bill Maher watches Shore's sitcom and mutters, "God, I hate this country!"; Rico Suave stops Shore on the street and tries to sell him oranges; and Todd "Willis" Bridges is way more dignified than he has any need to be as Shore's cellmate in the celebrity wing of the LA prison. And Jason Mewes' appearance as the MC of a Pauly Shore lookalike contest made me smile, just because, c'mon, it's fuckin' Jay.
Truth be told, I actually kinda liked this movie. Yeah, it's dumb, and it's that same strain of self-referential humor that's been shoved down your throat since the day after Austin Powers opened (oh, yeah, Verne Troyer's in this too), but it's got a fun, shaggy-dog feel to it, and the scenes of Shore's decline play the self-deprecation thing well. And I genuinely respect the "Fuck you, Hollywood" sentiment that got the movie made. Of course, all of this does little to reverse the fact that I hate fuckin' Pauly Shore.
Speaking of the Wiez, after the movie ended, a Coolidge usher took the mic: "Uhh... Pauly seems to have left halfway through the movie. But he says for all of you to tell your friends to come tomorrow night." Somehow, I like that. Call it a double-negative.