User Reviews

In Beverly Hills, the Montana family-man actor Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) becomes a superstar with the franchise of his action movie "Adrenaline Force". His family and he lose their privacy with the success, being stalked by four tabloid paparazzi leaded by the despicable Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore). When the photographers provoke a tragic traffic accident with Bo and his family, his wife Abby Laramie (Robin Tunney) is seriously injured and his son Zach Laramie (Blake Bryan) enters in coma. When Bo unintentionally causes a fatal accident with Kevin Rosner (Kevin Gage), he decides to plot revenge against the other three scumbags to protect his family.

"Paparazzi" is flawed, but is also an entertaining tale of revenge. Tom Sizemore is amazing in his performance of a nasty guy, and there are the uncredited participations of many VIPs, such as Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, Chris Rock and Matthew McConaughey among others. It is funny to see the evolution (?) of the naive character Paparazzo, performed by Walter Santesso in Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" to the present days. Do not think too much about the flaws, and you will certainly see an enjoyable film. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Paparazzi"

This is Hollywood's revenge movie against the Paparazzi, those goon photographers obsessed with getting celebrities' pictures at all costs, totally invading their privacy and often using the pictures in a dishonest way to invent gossipy stories for the tabloids.

This was an easy call for Hollywood because who was going to side against them in this film? If there was any doubt about any shred of decency concerning those photographers, this film quickly dispelled that with Tom Sizemore's character, a representative of that famous "press corps." They made Sizemore as sleazy and unethical as they could.

So what you wind you up with a basic revenge story, nothing new or earthshaking but almost always entertaining in whatever form. In this film, the photo guys mess up and the victim - an actor (Cole Hauser) - takes revenge by going after them. In the process, we see how he does it and along the way are treated to some amusing cameos by Mel Gibson, Chris Rock and Matthew McConaughey. Yeah, it's kind of a low-brow revenge flick, but it works. By the way, this is yet another film that should be rated R, not PG-13. That's as ludicrous as the paparazzi.

Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) is living "The American Dream". Money, fame, fortune beyond his wildest dreams. But unfortunate for Laramie, fame comes with a price, by the name of the Paparazzi. The persistence of the paparazzi leaves Laramie in the hospital, and his son in a coma. The press will clearly do anything to get the perfect shot. Laramie decides that the only to stop his problems is to take them out one by one.

A team of four relentless paparazzi soon are the ones who become the victims. The ringleader of the gang, Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore) soon realizes that he and his gang are the ones in danger. Wendell Stokes (Daniel Baldwin), Leonard Clark (Tom Hollander) and Kevin Rosner (Kevin Gage) make up the four paparazzi that Laramie is bend on destroying.

One of the highlights of my summer was "Paparazzi". I wanted to see this since I first saw the trailer for it. Looked like a pretty interesting take on the action/thriller genres. The lead roles Cole Hauser and Tom Sizemore are quite impressive. In my opinion, Sizemore owns this movie. While it's not the role he was born to play, I can't see many others playing the role of Harper.

One thing I found interesting is that Mel Gibson along with other producers of Paparazzi were inspired to make this film upon reading articles of paparazzi attacks. Not as serious as the one in the film, but nevertheless.

The film is one of the first of its kind. That I've seen anyways. Exploiting the paparazzi. It just sounds like a fun movie to me. One that I haven't seen before. Paparazzi is other all, a very fun, enjoyable and a very entertaining flick. Check it out. You won't be disappointed. I wasn't.

***/*****

This movie was actually okay. Cole Hauser is always awesome and everyone else's acting was good as well. The plot might seem far-fetched to us ordinary citizens but stuff like this actually happens and it was an original idea as well...not some crap remake or endless sequels that have plagued us these past 2 years. The action was adequate and not over-done and it really got me hyped into making sure he obtained his revenge. I also liked the ending a lot and I left the theater completely satisfied.

Final Judgment:

Movies - Yes (but probably could wait for on rental)

DVD - A strong possibility

Rental - Absolutely!

One of those movies that your not expecting a whole lot from, but you go because the trailer is cool.

We enjoyed the movie because it didn't have any down time and stayed as close to being an "action" movie as the plot allowed. A nice little twist at the end moved the ranking up a notch.

The bad guys were believable , but a little more "Baldwin" would have been nice.... Not an award winner by any means. You do leave feeling good because the movie was fast paced and no dull moments. Pretty good value for your dollar, a long as you don't spend $20.

Better to wait for the DVD Rental or watch as part of a Drive -In "3-Pack).

I saw it last night. I think this movie is misunderstood.

I want to believe that the reasons behind this movie's dismal reviews in the main have to do with the fact that certain people with certain political leanings WANT to hate it and hate Gibson for the sheer and utter sole reason that he made THE PASSION OF THE Christ, that it has a so-called (and totally off-the-wall -- and wrong!) message of anti-Semitism... and that he made the movie anyway, despite protests from the political Left of Hollywood. Have you noticed that Mel Gibson actually placed his name in the credits of this movie as its producer? I can't think of any other Icon Productions film in which his name is placed at all. Granted, Mel doesn't need the money. As far as money goes, he's set for the rest of his life and the rest of his kids' lives. But he has a passion (no pun intended) for making movies, and he's proving that you can't keep him out of Hollywood, by placing his name in the forefront of the credits of this particular Icon Productions project.

It's a fun movie. First and foremost. That's the point of having so many uncredited cameos, most prominently Mel Gibson as an Anger Management patient sitting in the doctor's office scribbling away in the 5 workbooks piled up in his lap.

Secondly, this is a western set in modern society. Whatever you might think of westerns as a genre, PAPARAZZI is for the most part Gregory Peck's THE BRAVADOS with a Hollywood film-making setting. Westerns have long been a staple of the family for Hollywood film-makers since its beginnings. Also, Gibson has himself stated that in prepping BRAVEHEART for filming, he watched -- among other movies -- Gregory Peck's THE BIG COUNTRY. I think Gibson is a fan of Peck's as well as a huge movie buff in his own right; and PAPARAZZI is a tip of the hat to westerns in general. Also, add to the fact that the main character of PAPARAZZI hails from Montana.

Lastly, believe it or not, I think this movie is oriented to the family. Not only does this movie have Mel Gibson in a cameo, but also Vince Vaughan and Matthew McConaughey. It also features Chris Rock who appeared with Gibson in LETHAL WEAPON 4, as well as Fay Masterson who was in Gibson's directorial debut THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE.

This movie isn't on the scale of BEN-HUR or THE BIG COUNTRY. This movie is what it is... fun. I applaud Mel Gibson and crew for delivering the goods.

I found the movie hearkening back to the revenge thrillers of the '70s and '80s.

It moves from point A to point B with little to no surprises, but it's still an enjoyable film. The film actually lived up to the trailer, which made me want to see it.

Cole Hauser carried his role of Bo Laramie well.

Tom Sizemore oozed the right amount of SCUMBAG for the role, but that comes as no surprise to me.

My only real problem was the rather blatant lobotomy they gave Dennis Farina's character. Any detective worth his salt would've instantly made Laramie the prime suspect when the photographers who nearly killed his wife and son turn up dead.

Probably wouldn't buy it on DVD, but I'd definitely see it again.

I've heard about movies that were so awful that the entire audience laughed, but I've never actually been to one until today. This movie was so awful that we couldn't walk out; we were laughing too hard.

At one point my friend asked if I thought there was any chance one of the actors would actually suck a rat's behind. If only someone had, it would have improved this lame piece of garbage.

Hmmm...I have to provide at least ten lines of comments now in order to be posted? That's new. Okay, let's see, what else can I say? We went to dinner after and I had a delightful cashew chicken salad sandwich. My friend had a turkey club on wheat.

The present climate of gossip tabloids in this country have created the need for paparazzis. Those ubiquitous parasites seen all over the place, taking pictures of celebrities either adoringly, or at their worst, depending on the agenda of the publications they sell their pictures to. If someone is loved, we'll get to see them ad nauseam, at their best "goody-goody" selves. But if they fall out of grace, or will not cooperate with these vermin, every nasty little detail from their lives will be front page fodder for people buying those trashy magazines.

This is the premise that Paul Abascal presents in "Paparazzi". Working on Forrest Smith's screen play, the director show us how an actor, Bo Laramie is the victim of a group of photographers that follow him and his family from openings galas to daily situations that will be turned into sensational articles for the naive to read.

Basically, the film is Bo's revenge on the same people that cause an accident that leaves his young son in a coma and his wife in a critical condition. In fact, most of the comments submitted to this forum have been negative. While the film doesn't show anything new, it is not as bad as some commentaries make it out to be.

Cole Hunter, as the movie star, Bo Laramie, has some good moments. Dennis Farina plays the detective that comes to investigate Bo's claim about the accident. Tom Sizemore, Daniel Baldwin and Tom Hollander are seen as three of the pest photographers intent in ruining the star's life.

There are two cameos by Mel Gibson, the producer of the film, and by Chris Rock, that are a surprise in that they appear out of nowhere.

First off, I would like to congratulate Cole Hauser as Bo for delivering the worst performance I've seen in years. Thanks for completely wasting my life, Cole. I absolutely found it completely repulsive when his son had just been in a coma, and when one of the employees asks Bo how it's going, and Bo responds with a simple "alright." Are you kidding me? After that, I was almost convinced this was a comedy, after I laughed the entire way through the rest.

The next award for biggest numb skull goes to the Paparazzi guy who was driven off the road, and was hanging off the cliff, when Bo tries to save his life. I'm not going to give spoilers, but I'll just ask you this: What would happen if someone was trying to save you when you were hanging off the edge of a cliff, and while they're in the process of doing it, you make even more threats if they don't save you? Yeah, they'd probably drop you.

Why make such a completely mindless film? You'd think the filmmakers would have some sort of self respect not to embarrass themselves with such a piece of slop. I knew the biggest mistake of my weekend was picking this up. I was so hypnotized by this movie's stupidness that I thought I would never see good acting again. Oddly enough, the performance of the century and the joke of the century came in the same year. The joke: Cole Hauser as Bo. The greatest performance I've ever seen that came out that same year: Tom Cruise as Vincent in the movie "Collateral." Definitely worst acting, dumbest plot, and cheesiest action scenes I've ever seen.

I just saw Paparazzi this evening. Considering that the studio did not have an advanced screening for the press I was not expecting very much, trust me I have seen far worse this summer - Exorcist the Beginning comes to mind! I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised; it was a pretty decent movie. I was entertained for the full 90 minutes. Tom Sizemore nailed the role of a true scumbag.

Keep an eye open for Chris Rock, the coolest Pizza Guy you are likely going to see any time soon.

If you are looking for an entertaining end of summer movie this certainly might be worth your while to check out.

Don't expect too much, the main characters acting ... well, lets call it medium. I liked the cameo of Chris Rock and I also enjoyed the Peter-Falk-Columbo-Detective snooping around and investigating. The no-1 bad guy (Tom Sizemore) did the best job being nasty, antisocial, all up for the money and ... scared. The story is good and entertaining but could go a little deeper, some twists here and there would have spiced it up a little ... it's too linear. The ending is OK, I don't think there will be a Paparazzi 2, but you never know these days :)

All in all a good, enjoyable movie you can watch without overpowering your brain.

I was actually looking forward to seeing this movie. Then I watched it and quite frankly I want my $4.99 rental cost back. In theory it could (and should) have been good. But the acting was just sad, the writing was beyond terrible and the plot wore thin very, very quickly. I guess it was just a jab back at the press by Mel Gibson and his production company - but there is NO DIGNITY in producing a lemon like that. I hope one day that they make a good movie on the paparazzi premise. There's huge potential for it to be good. Maybe next time they'll splurge some money in the writing department first though. So if you rent it you've been warned it's brutal.

I hate tabloid press as much as the next person. But I will be honest to you about how I feel about movie stars. It is a dishonest profession. I don't believe in actors getting paid $20 million for a single film and living in multiple mansions when harder working folks get nothing. But then you have to consider what the character of Bo Laramie says in this film. Perhaps every time someone takes your picture you lose a bit of your soul. Maybe the constant hassling of the press is only worth $20 million. Celebrities do rub it in our faces a bit too much about how much money they have. We are the ones that see their movies and buy their CDs. It's because of us that they have what they have right? And when we want a little bit of them back, when we want a little insight into their lives that ultimately, we, have helped create for them, they often bite back with attitude.

There is a line that is not to be crossed though. The odd picture here and there is more than enough. But as there are so many, many tabloid magazines out there, all with the same kind of single-word single-syllable title, the business has become very diluted and all of them are willing to buy the most mundane photos of celebs doing uninteresting things. Not only this, but they take it to rather perverted extremes and it baffles me that anyone could be at all interested in it. I've seen long-shots of celebs hanging around like any person ought to but with massive close-ups of sweaty armpits, circled for the benefit of anyone not enlightened to the point of the picture. Morbid close-ups of some celebrity's blouse revealing some milkshake she spilled a few hours earlier is just plain creepy. Sadly, there are thousands of parasites out there who are willing to fork over their hard-earned cash for such rags. I'll never understand the fascination.

Celebs are made out to be Gods of some kind. Something we all want to be but never can. Their teeth are perfect, their wives/husbands beautiful, their children beautiful, their homes are palaces and their lifestyles enviable. Most of us live our whole lives in jealousy of celebs. This is why we just want a little bit more back from them. They can afford it right? With all that money and 'power' a few pics here and there won't hurt will they? Well, I can't imagine myself liking it very much. And, considering the crap I've seen some celebs take, I personally don't think any of it's worth $20 million. Punching a Paparazzo in the face with my fist going through his camera first sounds like the best image of all in my opinion. Since a union of celebs is actually quite powerful, I do believe their wills be much, much tighter laws in the near future to curb Paparazzi. There's always some story of some actor taking a weaselly photographer to court.

Or you could do it the way Bo Laramie does.

Laramie (Cole Hauser) is a former Montana carpenter who has, by pure chance, become a star in Hollywood through various xXx-style action movies. The public loves him and wants more than he is willing to offer. His private life is constantly being invaded by those peeking in. But they are taking pictures too. Rex Harper (the very cool, but sadly self-destructive, Tom Sizemore) is one of those pesky photographers. And Laramie doesn't take too kindly to Harper taking pics of his son playing football. He responds by punching out Harper, only a group of his Paparazzi pals (including Danny-the best Baldwin, the psycho killer from Heat, and some highly annoying English guy you can't wait to see hanging from a tree) catch the whole thing on film and whore out their footage to the highest bidder.

Now with a personal vendetta between them a childish game is promptly brought to an end (or only just beginning) when they involve Laramie and his family in a Princess Diana-style car wreck. And instead of calling an ambulance, they take pictures of their bloody bodies. Sadly, it's not sounding far-fetched yet.

Having not learned from other's mistake Laramie is still hassled by the photographers and press and they continue to fabricate stories and bend (read utterly distort) the truth to line their own pockets. Little do they know Laramie is planning a Punisher-style revenge on the 4 dolts responsible for his tragedy.

Click on my reviews to find a coninuation of this criticism in another film of the same name as the IMDb only allows 1000 words.

This is an average B-movie, and like all B-movies, if you approach it right, it's bloody entertaining. That said, I found it curiously entertaining that some of the "reviewers" on this board (you know, those guys that spend 3 or 4 days writing their reviews?) hate this movie not because they hate THIS movie, but because Mel Gibson's name is attached as producer. LOL. One guy was gay, since he mentioned Gibson's name and politics about 90% of the time, and the other guy just hates Gibson. Dudes, this is a fun B-movie. Get over yourself and stop polluting the board with your childish rants against people you've never met, and will never meet in your life.

That said, Cole Hauser is the da man. I like this guy in PITCH BLACK and I like him here. Tom Sizemore is so good as the ruthless photog. Bloody hell, these guys make this movie!

Nothing groundbreaking but I love to see men fight for their families. Solid, entertaining flick

This weak, dire thriller has received a lot of hype - and weirdly a lot of praise. Not sure why. Maybe the power of Mel Gibson as a producer, or an action packed trailer (definitely 2mins that are better than the 90mins on offer here!). Cole Hauser, son of Wings, is celebrity 'Bo' - a sort of meat head celebrity in the mold of, well, Wings actually. He is set upon by a gang of bloodthirsty paparazzis who provoke him to react for their cameras. Thus follows a persecuted and put upon celeb who gets no privacy (yawn) a TV movie car chase, all flashing bulbs and squealing wheels, and a predictable Princess Diana scenario, a crash caused by those zealots with cameras. Bo wants to get even and goes after them in a Charlie Bronson kind of way. What rubbish! And it also includes the odd stomach churning celebrities-playing-themselves-cameos which are truly cringe-worthy. Why Hollywood why? Directed with all the flair of a hamburger commercial, this one to avoid faster than a 60th second!

The movie was excellent satire. If I were writing the title, I'd probably call it "Paul Kersey meets Columbo." The plot is every bit the "Death Wish" story, with Hauser portraying a character who has a contempt for the evil criminal, similar to that of Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey.

Then, introduce Columbo as the replacement for Vince Gardenia's Frank Ochoa and you have a great combination of characters for this good and entertaining flick.

Hauser does a great job as a vigilante. Much more subtle than Kersey, but satisfying nonetheless. Farina's timing as a Columboesque detective is flawless.

If you like satire, Death Wish, and Columbo, you'll enjoy this movie.

First, I've heard people say that this movie is nothing but self-serving, egotistical Hollywood garbage. And they actually wouldn't be too far of the mark. But, really, can you blame them? Nobody likes paparazzi. How could you? They make a living off the embarrassment and humiliation of others. Their entire occupation is created by being nothing more than high school-esquire gossip-hounds. They are the dredges of society, supplying the bored masses with opium in the form of celebrity pain, and every one in Hollywood has to deal with them. They're like mosquitoes. Can you really blame those crazy folks in Tinseltown if they get annoyed by them? Well, I can't. But it still doesn't help the fact that this movie is magnificently sub-par. It's a fun, improbable B-Movie to watch with a bag of popcorn. The antagonists are all so wonderfully horrible, and you'll love the fact that they all get their's in the end (even if their punishment happens in some legal netherworld where the law is powerfully inept). It also helps that Tom Sizemore is as much of an uncouth ghoul in life as he is in the movie.

The rest of the plot is equally as unrealistic, and the leads aren't really all that powerful. But the B-movie revenge craziness makes up for it. This is not a movie to be taken seriously. At all. So don't watch it like it's supposed to.

I've got to say I highly recommend This. It's the latest movie produced by Mel Gibson (he has a funny cameo in it), and it's another one of the few conservative, fun, get the bad guys movies that are becoming so rare in the Theaters nowdays.

Cole Hauser (one of Bruce Willis' navy seals in Tears of the Sun) plays the main character, a new action hero in Hollywood who finds his family being stalked and harassed by Paparazzi. The hero decides to defend his family and takes matters into his own hands in a way that liberal film critics have been squealing and complaining about since it came out. You know the movie's got to be good when the headlines refer to it as "A Mean-Spirited Revenge Movie", "Mel Gibson's Insanity" and "A Crude, Violent Tale."

Cole Hauser actually makes a pretty good action movie good guy here. Along with Eric Bana and Johnny Messner, this movie puts him in with the few potential new generation tough guys in contrast to the crowded list of ever increasing metrosexual wimps.

Buy it or rent it when it comes out on DVD this January.

While I was watching this movie it occurred to me that maybe it was a joke. Maybe this movie was only made for one purpose, to take shots at the paparazzi. The movie is too ridiculous to be good. The acting is just too horrible. No one in this movie can act. The only actor in this movie that shows he can act is Dennis Farina. The worst of them all is the leading man. Cole Hauser has to be one of the worst actors I've ever seen. I bet he won't get too many good offers after this. The guy looks like he's never acted in a movie in his life. I saw him previously in 2 Fast 2 Furious. I laughed at his acting in that. When I saw the preview to this movie I said in disbelief, "That guy is playing the hero?" Many actors where offered the lead for this and Cole Hauser was the only idiot that they could get. The other actors were probably smart enough to read the script. Cole Hauser is just such a joke. In the therapy scenes his acting was so terrible that I found myself saying, "Is this guy for real?" Another ridiculous thing about this movie that I remember is how the first paparazzi dies and Dennis Farina informs Hauser. Hauser's response is, "That's too bad." Another paparazzi dies and Farina comes to Hauser again telling him, "I got another dead photographer that was involved in your accident." It's so comical. One line in this movie that is shown on the previews is, "I am going to destroy your life and eat your soul." What the hell does that mean? I could understand if Sizemore just said, "I am going to destroy your life." But "eat your soul?" The bottom line is, the movie has a good plot, but it all goes down the drain from a horrible script and horrible acting. If you don't want to see a movie where the whole time you keep saying, "This is so stupid," then don't even waste your time.