11 - The Big Picture

    Kevin Bacon stars in a script by Christopher Guest, which reminded me of his more recent movie, For Your Consideration.  This movie is about a film student who wins an award for his short film, and winds up becoming a Hollywood phony until his project is cancelled.

    The humor is good, but sort of understated.  There are some conversations that are exactly as anti-artistic as we expect, but the problem is that they don't push the joke a step further.  In fact, the ideas are presented in such a way that we understand how they could be useful.  This is probably more accurate to the Hollywood system, but it feels sort of insidious.

    There are some really enjoyable gags, and movie plays nicely.  Probably should belong with a collection of other movies about making movies, like Living In Oblivion.