An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn (1997)
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8% of critics liked it
(40 reviews) -
19% of users liked it
(1,781 ratings)
First, a little background: in 1955, the Director's Guild of America created the pseudonym Alan Smithee, which film directors are allowed to use if they feel their work has been tampered with to such a degree that they no longer want the credit. (For example, if you look at the credits of the… More First, a little background: in 1955, the Director's Guild of America created the pseudonym Alan Smithee, which film directors are allowed to use if they feel their work has been tampered with to such a degree that they no longer want the credit. (For example, if you look at the credits of the expanded and heavily narrated TV version of Dune, you'll notice the director is not listed as David Lynch, but as Alan Smithee.) An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn is a comedy about a film editor (played by Eric Idle) who finally gets his big break -- he's given the opportunity to direct a big-budget action film starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan. But filming does not go well (the budget eventually balloons to 200 million dollars) and the producer, James Edmunds (Ryan O'Neal), tampers with the final cut of the film. As a result, the hapless neophyte director doesn't want his name to appear on the credits. But his real name is Alan Smithee, so what's he supposed to do? In a stunning example of art imitating life, director Arthur Hiller was supposedly unhappy with the interference of screenwriter and producer Joe Eszterhas on this project and chose to remove his name from the credits -- so An Alan Smithee Film carries the directorial credit of none other than Alan Smithee. Rappers Coolio and Chuck D appear as the filmmaking Brothers Brothers; Chuck D also contributed to the film's score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Alan Smithee, Arthur Hiller
- Written By
- Joe Eszterhas
- Genres
- Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Feb 20, 1998 Wide
Critic Reviews
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John Hartl, Seattle Times
The level of humor could be called sophomoric, but that would insult most sophomores.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
A comedy without laughs, an expose without point.
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Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
What turns the witlessness rancid is the way the movie is saturated in the very corruption it thinks it's ridiculing.
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Todd McCarthy, Variety
A caustic but under-funny "expose" of the venality of the motion picture business.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
If you harbor an interest in watching so-called "industry smarts" autodestruct, this carries a certain morbid appeal, but that's about the extent of it.
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Cast
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Ryan O'Neal
as James Edmunds
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Coolio
as Dion Brothers
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Chuck D.
as Leon Brothers
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Richard Jeni
as Jerry Glover
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Eric Idle
as Alan Smithee
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Leslie Stefanson
as Michelle Rafferty
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Sandra Bernhard
as Ann Glover
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Cherie Lunghi
as Myrna Smithee
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Harvey Weinstein
as Sam Rizzo
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Gavin Polone
as Gary Samuels
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MC Lyte
as Sister Lumumba
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Marcello Thedford
as Stagger Lee
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Nicole Nagel
as Aloe Vera
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Stephen Tobolowsky
as Bill Bardo
- Sylvester Stallone
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Jackie Chan
- Larry King
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Dominick Dunne
- Joe Eszterhas
- Naomi Eszterhas
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Robert Evans
as Himself
- Peter Bart
- Shane Black
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Robert Shapiro
as Himself
- Erik King
- Jim Piddock
- Naomi Campbell
