Pauly Shore Is Dead

Well, it wasn't a total waste of time. Never before have I seen a movie with over 60 recognized celebrities and as many more that I probably would never recognize. It's like watching an awards show.

Pauly Shore, with a splendid resume that includes such Razzie favorites as Encino Man, Jury Duty, and Bio-Dome, decides that he is better off dead. Only then does he get recognition. It is so much easier to say nice things about the dead.

There are some laughs hers, and you get to see Pamela Anderson, but that's about it. Shore doesn't do much more in his directorial debut that he does in his films.

This "movie" is so amateurish it feels intentional. There's tons of unfortunate sexism, racism & homophobia, made worse by the fact that Shore is playing himself. The amount of star cameos implies a bunch of random favors were called-in. However, the oddity of this project's conceit is undeniable. A pseudo-genius mix of autobiography & complete fiction, it shows a Pauly Shore who is more self-aware & self-effacing than I would've imagined.

A narcissist is one who has excessive love or admiration of oneself. You'd think a person who writes, directs and stars in a movie about himself would fit that definition. But it's the exact opposite.

"Pauly Shore Is Dead" is a satirical, self-deprecating (self-loathing?) autobiography by a man who was once on top of the world but now he's flattened by it. The movie is mostly predictable, with silly gags and one-liners typical of the plastic 80s and early 90s partycoms we loved so much. Pauly stayed true to the genre that made him a hit.

But what I liked were the introspective moments peppered throughout, particularly toward the end, where we see that maybe Pauly could, in fact, be another Robin Williams or Adam Sandler... a typecast slapstick comedian who manages to break out of the mold and become a legitimate actor. The story is superficial, and if you choose to read between the lines--realizing that this movie itself is part of the autobiography--it's a grand experience.

Dozens of great cameo appearances make this film a treat. From the opening scene with arrogant Charlie Sheen, to the clips of angry Ben Stiller, to the scene with penniless Gerardo rapping on the side of the road (remember "Rico Suave"?), to the bit with ditzy Paris Hilton or clueless Britney Spears ("Pauly Shore? Oh you mean the guy who was on MTV *before* I was born!") there's tons of comedic eye candy, especially for the 90s pop culture crowd. I think that's the key to all the fun. You don't necessarily need to be a Pauly fan in order to be entertained, as long as you recognize some of the big & upcoming stars of the late 90s.

"Pauly Shore Is Dead" is not a big budget production, so don't expect polished Hollywood finesse. It seems like a lot was shot on digital cameras, giving it a cheap, homemade feel (deliberately?). The soundtrack is sorta cheezy (again, deliberately?) but with a few big hits like The Cars "Let the Good Times Roll", a tune by Eminem, and ironically a tune by Limp Bizkit, whose singer appears in a cameo handing a demo cd to Pauly and subsequently getting into a fight, yelling "You'll see! My band is going to make it big and we'll never ask you to be in our video!" (the irony being that Pauly has appeared in several).

So brush up on your 90s pop culture, then pop this movie in & have a blast. Movies I would compare this to are "Best in Show" (or any of the excellent Christopher Guest mockumentaries, "Napoleon Dynamite", and a weird, undiscovered dark comedy called "Circus Maximus ".

I've always like Pauly Shore, Thought I'd rent this for a laugh, what a mistake, He wrote directed and stared in it. What is up, can't he get any jobs in Hollywood? I always thought he was funny.Why not make a second part to "In the Army", any way, don't bother, or waste your time on this one! I really hated the parts where he is jacking off while talking to his Mom on the phone! What does his Mom think about this when she see's it! Son in law was funny too. So I watched it, took it back to Blockbuster and asked them why they even have a copy of it on their shelves, they said it only goes out like once a month. Well I hope this is 10 lines so I can quit typing!

First, this movie isn't supposed to be an Oscar contender. Second, it's still a Pauly Shore movie, even if it's not like any other Pauly Shore movie. I really think the negative reviews of this movie were from people putting it on a pedestal before even watching it, expecting it to be extremely artsy, a biting satire on Hollywood or whatever other pretentious reasons they could come up with to hate the movie when it failed to play out like their fantasy they came up with simply by looking at the box and title.

It's not a bad movie. It's not a great movie, but it's got plenty of humor in it, both clever Hollywood in-jokes (with lots of celebrities making fun of themselves along with Pauly) and simple toilet humor. I really think all the 'film school dropouts' need to sit back and enjoy the movie for what it is, not for what it isn't. It's a Pauly Shore movie that doesn't play like a typical Pauly Shore movie, nothing more nothing less. And if you didn't like other Pauly Shore movies, you should at least still give it a shot because of this. Just don't expect it cure cancer or feed hungry children. It's still a Pauly Shore movie.