456:, Peter Debruge said, "The characters seem to be doing all the laughing, while the general public has nothing to cling to but the horndog flirtation between mismatched leads William H. Macy and Meg Ryan - hardly ideal ingredients for mainstream success . . . Elliott Gould gets laughs as the credit-hungry
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Charlie cuts ties with the agency he has been with to go freelance. Then he creates hype by planting false rumors that get widely published, which successfully attracts
Paragon Studios. After some creative wrangling with studio big-wigs and feisty project developer Deidre Hearn, whom he is instantly
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called the film a "bouncy, sharp-edged farce . . . target audience is, to some degree, its own cast and crew. Yet it’s difficult to resist when the purely idiotic is openly mocked by a sure-footed cast of line readers led by
William H. Macy . . . Meg Ryan gets a somewhat thankless role . . . but
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At
Charlie and Diedre's meeting with Bobby's manager Mark, at which two potential writers come, the latest script is rejected. Although the film is green-lighted, Charlie says these writers are also fired, happily declaring they should celebrate. Now Mark will have a script shortly and they start
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As Bobby is cast in the title role, when Diedre sees the rewritten script is full of dialogue, she rejects it. After promising to have a rewrite, Charlie boldly asks her about her sex life and relationship status, as he is interested and available. Diedre shoots him down, as she is engaged and is
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Bobby is kidnapped by terrorists a few days into the shoot, so the film is shut down by CTC, the
Canadian company that bought out Paragon. The crew have a farewell party at the hotel, where Diedre's fiancé Glen introduces himself. Diedre has been fired, so she says goodbye to Charlie.
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Charlie proceeds to set up production in South Africa. Six weeks later, when the studio sends a man instead of Diedre to assist on production he lies, saying Bobby insists on her. She has purposely been avoiding
Charlie. However, Deidre arrives, and she and Charlie shortly start to
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felt there was "nothing remotely original" about the film, he thought it "just happens to be sprightlier than most, zipping along from one familiar but well-deployed yuk to the next and anchored by the surprisingly winning team of Macy and Meg Ryan."
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Finishing shooting in the nick of time, Charlie proposes they continue to work together, but Diedre does not think he's brave enough in his personal life. He throws himself on the hood of her departing car to prove her wrong.
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In the morning, as
Charlie is again preparing to kill himself, this time with opera and pills, Deidre turns up. She hatches a scheme to produce Lionel's original script "
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the dialogue is fast, and of course the target is a fat, awful, patronizing goldfish in a small bowl begging to be shot."
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in the movie-star roles would have gone a long way toward completing the illusion."
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811:Films directed by Steven Schachter
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184: (Sundance Film Festival)
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471:Although Matt Prigge of the
299:nephew Lionel arrives from
277:Traverse City Film Festival
267:. It also was shown at the
261:2008 Sundance Film Festival
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269:Philadelphia Film Festival
176:January 22, 2008
816:Films scored by Jeff Beal
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382:goes on to receive seven
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796:American satirical films
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390:producers in Hollywood.
228:comedy film directed by
163:Peace Arch Entertainment
722:Just a Walk in the Park
420:as Rabbi Seth Gutterman
801:Films about filmmaking
344:regularly satisfied.
265:Sarasota Film Festival
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251:The film was shot in
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224:is a 2008 American
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16:2008 American film
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116:Paul Sarossy
98:Jason Ritter
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662:Lady Killer
436:John Carson
365:on the Q.T.
244:. Macy and
197:100 minutes
128:Susan Maggi
76:Produced by
39:Directed by
786:2008 films
780:Categories
492:References
464:celebrity
301:New Jersey
275:, and the
255:and other
234:screenplay
180:2008-01-22
145:Production
49:Written by
524:March 28,
506:""Here's
412:LL Cool J
378:The film
330:espionage
253:Cape Town
248:co-star.
226:satirical
138:Jeff Beal
122:Edited by
106:LL Cool J
762:The Deal
597:The Deal
586:The Deal
508:The Deal
406:Meg Ryan
246:Meg Ryan
221:The Deal
210:Language
134:Music by
94:Meg Ryan
88:Starring
65:The Deal
61:Based on
22:The Deal
692:The Con
540:Variety
453:Variety
354:hook-up
316:Judaism
293:suicide
213:English
202:Country
178: (
147:company
765:(2008)
755:(2006)
745:(2004)
735:(2004)
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715:(2002)
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695:(1998)
685:(1996)
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655:(1992)
570:review
556:review
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466:cameos
462:A-list
369:Prague
332:film,
271:, the
232:. The
458:rabbi
591:IMDb
526:2008
394:Cast
283:Plot
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320:PBS
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