What bothered me most about the pretentious parrot dropping from the usually fertile mind of John Waters was what Steven Dorff's beef essentially boils down to.
In the first shot of the movie within a movie, Adrian Grenier's movie owner is very sad about no one showing up at the film festival for Passolini. Instead, all the people have opted for the cineplex instead.
So Adrian, with wife and daughter in tow, conduct a guerilla warfare campaign again popular movies, targetting schlock like a sequel to Forest Gump and a director's cut for Patch Adams.
The argument therefore becomes: My favorite film director isn't popular. I hate what's popular. Therefore I should destroy and force my taste down everyone else's throat.
I have no problem with the legitate argument against mainstream movies that most are shallow, have no depth, are made by committee or by cookie-cutter with only financial incentives motivating the producers. High quality, intelligent independent movies still get made; some get squashed. But instead of Waters focusing on these types of movies, he essentially gives us the cinematic version of George Bush Sr's presidential campaign (The other guy is really evil and horrible, so vote for me.)
That's why this movie didn't ring true: the struggle between mainstream media and independent movies isn't a popularity contest, and shouldn't be depicted as one.
In the first shot of the movie within a movie, Adrian Grenier's movie owner is very sad about no one showing up at the film festival for Passolini. Instead, all the people have opted for the cineplex instead.
So Adrian, with wife and daughter in tow, conduct a guerilla warfare campaign again popular movies, targetting schlock like a sequel to Forest Gump and a director's cut for Patch Adams.
The argument therefore becomes: My favorite film director isn't popular. I hate what's popular. Therefore I should destroy and force my taste down everyone else's throat.
I have no problem with the legitate argument against mainstream movies that most are shallow, have no depth, are made by committee or by cookie-cutter with only financial incentives motivating the producers. High quality, intelligent independent movies still get made; some get squashed. But instead of Waters focusing on these types of movies, he essentially gives us the cinematic version of George Bush Sr's presidential campaign (The other guy is really evil and horrible, so vote for me.)
That's why this movie didn't ring true: the struggle between mainstream media and independent movies isn't a popularity contest, and shouldn't be depicted as one.