Pauly Shore Is Dead
Picture: C Sound: B-
Extras: C Film: D
As big a fan as I am of Pauly Shore, his directorial debut
left me greatly unimpressed. The concept behind it is a good one, and had
this movie been better, it could have been the fuel that propelled him back
into the limelight. I've been in anticipation of this movie longer than
most - I was checking the status of it on the official site for a good while,
and was hoping to see it make a theatrical run. My dedication as a fan of
all things Pauly is shown by still holding onto my VHS copy of the lesser-known
Curse of Inferno. In the end though, this movie left me very
disappointed. The whole thing just aimlessly plods along from segment to
segment without any build up, and the plot doesn’t hold up to the slightest bit
of scrutiny.
It doesn't seem that Pauly had too much faith for the film itself, as the whole
thing is basically just a vehicle for a bunch of lame celebrity cameos, strung
together haphazardly. Most of the film's budget probably went into paying
for these appearances, as I'm sure their time wasn’t exactly cheap in all
cases. I just wish that more care had been taken in the scriptwriting
stage to make this a more effective movie. If the budget for the cameos
had been spent on better cameras and a strong supporting cast and crew, I'd
probably feel a lot differently about things.
The humor found within is pretty weak, and there are many jokes that
just turn belly up. All of these jokes could have been more effective had
more craft gone into setting them up, but instead the movie keeps blowing
through one and on to the next.
The bonus features are alright if you‘ve been able to sit
through movie itself without tuning out, but the only extra really worthwhile
is the Q&A session that follows a screening of the film. The deleted
scenes are plentiful, but that becomes their downfall, as they seem to go on
forever with no end in sight. The worst of the extras is sadly the
commentary track provided by Pauly Shore himself. I had hoped I’d be able
to salvage some enjoyment out of this disc through the commentary since the
movie itself had left me wanting something all-out funny. Instead of
getting that, Pauly doesn’t allow for even a second of silence while talking,
and after a bit of time you’ll inevitably just stop listening and find
something else to do.
The video here is clean, but lacks any and all depth. You'll feel like
you're watching a home movie more than anything else, as it doesn't seem that a
top of the line HD camera was used for this film. The image is presented
in both full screen pan & scan and in anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
widescreen on a double-sided disc. The audio quality is fairly good, but
almost as unimpressive as the video quality, though it is available in Dolby
Digital 5.1 surround sound.
After I’ve just shot off all of this negativity toward this film, it probably
seems like I’m out to get Pauly - but this is very far removed from the
truth. I've loved all of his earlier films thoroughly, and have seen Bio-Dome
more than most human beings are capable of withstanding. I wish there was
something here to save this movie, as I really was hoping for this to be
great. Sadly, the bad really outweighs the good here, and for the
integrity of the site, I've got to give my honest opinion, even if I don't
entirely like saying it in this case. Here’s hoping he gets things going
for another movie that he and all of his fans can enjoy. Until then, you
can show some support by picking up a copy of one of his classics and having a
blast. Just keep curiosity at bay and hold a safe distance from this one
- you’ll feel much better that you did.
- David Milchick
