Washed-up veteran actor Vic Reeves (superbly played by Clu Gulager) has long since been neglected by Hollywood and has been reduced to eking out a meager living doing minor parts in shoddy low-budget horror pictures. However, Vic receives one last chance at getting his floundering career back on track after hot shot director Tony LaSalle (nicely portrayed by Clu's son Tom) offers him a substantial part in his latest movie. Unfortunately, poor Vic has to audition for this particular role.
Director Sage Stallone brings a commendable amount of depth, warmth, and feeling to this tragic character study of a man at the end of his tether: Ably assisted by Will Huston's thoughtful script, John Gulagher's sharp cinematography, and Franco Micalizza's spare brooding score, Stallone does a masterful job of creating and sustaining a strong melancholy mood while astutely addressing the ageism existent in Hollywood and American culture, fear of aging in a country that celebrates youth (Vic dyes his white hair black and puts bronzer make-up on his face in order to look younger for his audition), the competitive cut-throat nature of the casting process, and the humiliating ordeal of being forced to read for a role in a movie. Popping up in neat bits are Gregory Sierra as a hack horror director, Carol Lynley as a no-nonsense casting director, Miriam Byrd-Nethery as a friendly and flirtatious supermarket cashier, and John Lazar, Gary Frank, Richard Herd, John Phillip Law, Robert F. Lyons, and Peter Mark Richman as various other actors who are also vying for Vic's role. But it's Gulager's tour de force turn as a lonely and broken down former star who's long past his prime and thus been put out to pasture that really gives this short its extra jolting potency and resonance: Gulager projects a gut-wrenching sense of hurt pride, weary grace, raw desperation, and aching vulnerability in the character of Vic Reeves that's truly something special to behold, with Vic's awkward and ultimately botched audition registering as one of the single most heartbreaking scenes ever committed to celluloid. An excellent short.
Director Sage Stallone brings a commendable amount of depth, warmth, and feeling to this tragic character study of a man at the end of his tether: Ably assisted by Will Huston's thoughtful script, John Gulagher's sharp cinematography, and Franco Micalizza's spare brooding score, Stallone does a masterful job of creating and sustaining a strong melancholy mood while astutely addressing the ageism existent in Hollywood and American culture, fear of aging in a country that celebrates youth (Vic dyes his white hair black and puts bronzer make-up on his face in order to look younger for his audition), the competitive cut-throat nature of the casting process, and the humiliating ordeal of being forced to read for a role in a movie. Popping up in neat bits are Gregory Sierra as a hack horror director, Carol Lynley as a no-nonsense casting director, Miriam Byrd-Nethery as a friendly and flirtatious supermarket cashier, and John Lazar, Gary Frank, Richard Herd, John Phillip Law, Robert F. Lyons, and Peter Mark Richman as various other actors who are also vying for Vic's role. But it's Gulager's tour de force turn as a lonely and broken down former star who's long past his prime and thus been put out to pasture that really gives this short its extra jolting potency and resonance: Gulager projects a gut-wrenching sense of hurt pride, weary grace, raw desperation, and aching vulnerability in the character of Vic Reeves that's truly something special to behold, with Vic's awkward and ultimately botched audition registering as one of the single most heartbreaking scenes ever committed to celluloid. An excellent short.