Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
In between his gigs as Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvelverse, Clark Gregg quietly began a second career as a writer/director. He started with 2008's CHOKE, a dark, funny film based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel, and has now followed it up with a look at the sinister, duplicitous world of child actors and the agents that manage them.
The trailer gets across the basic premise, which has Gregg's desperate Howard Holloway trying to lock down an upstart ingenue (played by newcomer Saxon Sharbino) on her way to being cast in a major tentpole, but completely fuddles the tone of the film. It's not a cutesy comedy in the mold of THE WAY, WAY BACK (despite the presence of Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney), but rather a bleak look at Hollywood hanger-ons who have long-ago given up their stab at dignity, and scramble just to gain some sort of proximity to success. It's more similar to THE PLAYER or SUNSET BOULEVARD (in tone, not quality) than AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS. You can check out my thoughts about the film here.
The cast is great, and aside from Gregg, Sharbino, Rockwell, and Janney (all of whom are terrific), you got Molly Shannon, Felicity Huffman, Amanda Peet, Niecy Nash, and a funny William H. Macy cameo, all filling out this world of far-from-the-spotlight Hollywood. It's a really exemplary movie, one that takes risks and successfully balances its laughs with a real vicious sense of satire and tragedy. Not like you could tell that from this trailer.
TRUST ME and watch this movie when it's released on May 6th via VOD and June 6th theatrically
-Vincent Kim-Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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