This film pokes fun of the Hollywood system and how people put movies together. It follows a young film director fresh out of film school named Nick Chatman played by Kevin Bacon. Maybe you have heard of the Kevin Bacon game? It is where you try to link Kevin to other actors that he has worked with. Christopher Guest who is an actor and musician as well directed this; and helped write the screenplay with Michael Varhol. Fellow actor Michael McKean also helped write the screenplay. He plays the role of Emmet Sumner in this film.
The character Nick Chatman is the centerpiece of the story, and you see the interaction between him and a wide array of different characters throughout the entire film. It begins with him at an award show being honored for his short film that he did. It gets the attention of a particular studio executive named Allen Habel played by the late J.T. Walsh. He then presents him with the chance at directing his very own film with a much larger budget. Nick is very eager and excited at the idea having the chance to bring his film to life, which is set in the wintertime, within a cabin with a rich character driven storyline.
Nick is also in a relationship with his girlfriend Susan Rawlings who he has been dating for a while played by Emily Longstreth. He makes friends with Jennifer Jason Leigh who plays Lydia Johnson she also attended the same film school that he did. They put together a music video for her friend which catches the attention of Allen Habels assistant Todd Marvin played by Don Franklin. From this point on, the Hollywood buzz begins, and everyone is out to get a piece of Nick begging him to work with them. Earlier on he struggled to get people to notice him at all.
Nicks agent is played by Martin Short who was uncredited for this role as Neil Sussman. He plays an off the wall strange man with smarmy-like qualities. Teri Hatcher plays a sexy seductress named Gretchen who only starts to pine after Nick when she thinks he is successful to further her acting career.
More of the cast includes: John Cleese playing a Bartender, Richard Belzer plays a Video Show Host, Eddie Albert as M.C., June Lockhart as Janet Kingsley, Roddy McDowall as the Judge, Kim Miyori as Jenny Sumner, Nancy Valen plays Young Sharon, Dan Schneider plays Jonathan Tristan-Bennet, Jason Gould is Carl Manknik, Tracy Brooks Swope is Lori Pressman, Gary Kroeger is Mark, Fran Drescher plays Polo Habel, Elliott Gould who was uncredited plays a Prosecutor, Alice Hirson is Mrs. Chapman and Grant Owens is Mr. Chapman.
If you are interested in the way movies are made or just like a good comedy then this will interest you. It wasn’t over the top laughter, but it had some funny moments in it. I think most people will probably enjoy this one. The tagline for this was “Hollywood Reel To Real”.
This is a hilarious film by director John Landis, which stars two former Saturday Night Live cast members Dan Aykroyd as Austin Millbarge and Chevy Chase playing Emmett Fitz-Hume. They work perfectly together in this comedic tale of the cold war scare back during the 1980’s. The two government agents are promoted to infiltrate the former Soviet Union; little do they realize what they are really sent there for. This leads to some remember able moments throughout the length of the film. You will also see Dan Aykroyd’s wife in this Donna Dixon – the former 1st runner-up Miss World USA 1977 once worked at the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency and was engaged to Paul Stanley from the rock group Kiss. She was introduced to Dan Aykroyd by her best friend Fran Drescher. In this film she plays Karen Boyer, and she does a great job putting up with the antics of Aykroyd and Chase.
There is a scene near the start of the film where they have to take an exam inside the classroom; it is really funny and a standout moment. The film is filled with many clever and witty scenes and it seemed like they enjoyed themselves while shooting this movie. I think this is a comedy classic from the 1980’s. There are more appearances by: Bruce Davison, Terry Gilliam, Steve Forrest, Charles McKeown, James Daughton, Jim Staahl, William Prince, Tom Hatten, and the lovely Vanessa Angel playing a Russian Rocket Crewperson. Film legend Ray Harryhausen also appears briefly in this as Dr. Marston. Also, keep your eyes open for Bob Hope making a very brief cameo appearance as a Golfer. If you are ready to laugh get this film, it was really entertaining. The film story was done by Dan Aykroyd and Dave Thomas. The screenplay was written by Dan Aykroyd, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.
