Paparazzi

Paparazzi - **

This film is the ultimate conundrum. While it's obvious that fans enjoy their sadistic violence and revenge movies, who other than a celebrity really identifies with the almost sadomasochistic revenge on a group of stalkarazzi? The second film of the year from Mel Gibson's Icon Productions fails to live up to either the hype or the quality of its first. While both "The Passion of the Christ" and "Paparazzi" are both liberal in their use of violence ("Passion" even more so), this movie has neither an audience nor a clear sense of good and bad. I'm not sure, but I believe this movie sends the message that stalking and causing a celebrity to get in a near fatal crash is bad, and yet the vengeful murder of 3 people as a result is somehow good. Putting the moral and marketability issues aside, there's something to be said for writing that doesn't lose all of its creativity slightly beyond the halfway point. There were elements of this film that were very creative, but beyond the 45 minute mark it gets as blunt as the object the main character uses for his final murder victim. Now it's not to say there weren't good elements to the movie. Dennis Farina, Cole Hauser and Robin Tunney are all solid in their roles, and some of the action sequences are a guilty pleasure. However on an overall level, this movie has too many negatives and too few positives. Thumbs down.