William H Macy plays a washed out movie producer, Charlie Berns, on the verge of suicide. In a spark of inspiration brought on by the unannounced visit of his nephew, Lionel, who has written a screenplay, Charlie puts off his suicide attempt to produce his nephew’s movie. What starts out as an entertaining distraction in between suicide attempts becomes Charlie’s vehicle for seducing Diedre Hearn, an engaged studio exec who, despite being utterly repulsed by Charlie, can’t help but see the genius in the way he strokes egos, manipulates press, and works the studio execs to get this movie made.

We don’t often get to see William H Macy so confidant, sly, and manipulative, but the role absolutely suits him. The chemistry between him and Meg Ryan is energetic and playful. L.L. Cool J makes an appearance as an action star recently converted to Judaism and looking for an action film with Jewish values. It’s a one note role and good for a laugh (and I’m always a big fan of LL), but it’s really Macy and Ryan who just leap off the screen. They’re truly wonderful together.

As ludicrous as some of the deals seem, you can almost believe that big budget action films are made this way. It’s a new setting to frame a romantic comedy and seemed a perfect match for Sundance. Wonderful date flick and perfect for movie nerds everywhere.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 3:19 am and is filed under Movies, Events, Indy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.