Product Description

With hilarious humor and an all-star cast -- get ready for the ultimate comedy about the movie business! It's the wild story of a Hollywood director, Alan Smithee (Eric Idle -- MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL), who steals his own film from the studio. Soon everyone, including his power-hungry studio boss (Ryan O'Neal), is after him to get it back! With crowd-pleasing performances from sizzling mega-stars such as Jackie Chan, plus appearances by rappers Coolio and Chuck D, AN ALAN SMITHEE FILM: BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN is a wickedly witty behind-the-scenes look at the world of making movies!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78496 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.com
Subtitled An Alan Smithee Film (referring to a long-standing pseudonym for a director who disowns a film), this 1998 satire is notable chiefly for having the same thing happen in real life, as director Arthur Hiller (Love Story) took his name off the picture after clashing with screenwriter and producer Joe Eszterhas (Showgirls, Basic Instinct). The plot of Eszterhas's farce has to do with a filmmaker who really is named Alan Smithee, played by Eric Idle (Monty Python's The Meaning of Life). After signing on to direct a big-budget blockbuster at the behest of a sleazy producer (Ryan O'Neal), Smithee realizes he has lost control of the film and decides to remove his name and publicly destroy the project. Along the way he encounters a host of celebrities in cameos, including the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Sylvester Stallone, Jackie Chan, and rappers Chuck D and Coolio, all of whom become involved in Smithee's doomed film. Meant as an insider's take on the machinations of Hollywood from one of its most prominent screenwriters, Burn Hollywood Burn is a cheerfully over-the-top send-up of modern moviemaking and the equally outlandish characters involved. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews

Funny on the page, but on the screen, ouch.
Got a chance to read a script of "An Alan Smithee Film" a couple of years back. Funny, funnier, funniest. Not much plot, but funny, believable, outlandish circumstances. Joe Eszterhas lays some Hollywood realism on the line for us all to enjoy.

Too bad funny on the page doesn't necessarily transfer to funny on the screen. Eric Idle: not funny, Richard Jeni: less than not funny, and Ryan O'Neal: torturously cruel and inhuman.

Sandra Bernhard as someone's wife? Always funny.

The little cameos aren't even cute, although you gotta appreciate the irony of Gavin Polone's appearance. Too bad Michael DeLuca wasn't available.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda...translates to better ways to spend your time.

Deeply Diabolical!
Not much to say, considering that the majority of the reviews here have already warned people off this turkey.

The main culprit for the movies downfall is the terrible script, though the over the top performances from all really help sink it. You have to feel sorry for some of the stars who signed on, especially Whoopi Goldberg, who as an OSCAR winning actress, really deserves better. Eric Idle comes off unfunny, even irritating, which, as a Python star I'd never thought would be possible. Sly Stallone seems fed up, but maybe thankful for the work after his career was beginning to dry up (though his career seems to be revived at the moment).

It says a lot when the parody (this film) seems worse than the movie genre it is taking a shot at. Some movies are so bad that they have a 'secondary audience' who watch to laugh at it. This is just bad, and, very embarrassing. Avoid. Full stop.

Embarrassing Beyond Belief!
Badly written, badly cast, badly acted, badly directed - it's all here. And the embarrassing cameos don't help. At all. One would be hard pressed to pick out the worst of the bunch; Whoopi or Weinstein? Would've been way better if Billy Barty had Ryan O'Neal's role though.

However, there's this 'inspirational' line in there somewhere: "If we believe in film - and we do - then don't we have the responsibility to protect the world from bad ones?" Indeed.

Too bad the film makers didn't take it to heart.