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Michael Pitt, Steve Buscemi, Alison Lohman

Les, a small-time celebrity photographer desperate to make it big, befriends Toby, a homeless young man with no direction except a vague desire to become an actor. When by chance Toby becomes romantic...( read more  read more... )ally involved with K'Harma Leeds, the hottest pop star of the moment, Les grows jealous and plots revenge.

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51% liked it

7,228 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Tom DiCillo

Release Date: January 1, 2006

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DVD Release Date: May 6, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (436)

  • jamilyn0276
    March 18, 2009
    jamilyn0276
    Meet Les Galantine, a small time celebrity photographer with a big mouth, a big attitude, and even bigger dreams. One day Les meets a young homeless kid named Toby, making him his assistant. In a flash, everything changes.
    Delirious is a rags to riches tale. What does it take to ...( read more)get to the top, and who do we leave behind to get there?
    This was a movie that I enjoyed. It was kind of slow in places, but all in all it was a very endearing tale of friendship.
    Steve Buscemi is a phenom in the acting field. One of the few Hollywood big names that actually works and takes being an actor as a serious job. He can do no wrong in my book, I always enjoy him.
    I adored Michael Pitt in this. He was real and touching. I would like to see him in more leading roles, I think he could pull it off.
    The supporting cast of this film was also very good. Alison Lohman was one of my favorites in Matchstick Men. She can be such a good actress when she wants to be and she is very pretty. Gina Gershon is also someone that usually gives a good performance. It was nice to see Elvis Costello playing himself. It's not my favorite of his cameo's, that would be 200 Cigarettes, but it was still fun to see him.
    Delirious is a film that is worth a watch. It is a good little story.
  • her69eyes
    August 24, 2008
    her69eyes
    Steve Buscemi might be one of the most beloved actors in all of Hollywood by casual movie goers and cinephiles alike. His trademark strong features and bulging eyes could make him unnerving to look at for a typical audience, but his charm is something that is unparalleled. It's s...( read more)o interesting that a man who doesn't look like he'd be cut out for Hollywood can be elevated to such heights based on charisma alone. His appeal is that all of his roles are so real and vibrant - from the lonely record enthusiast in "Ghost World" to the crazy homeless guy in "Big Daddy". "Delirious" is another testament to Buscemi's work and further solidifies him as one of the great actors of our era... but unfortunately for the film itself, it turns into some sort of disaster by the end.

    "Delirious" tells the story of Les Galantine (Steve Buscemi), an uptight paparazzi photographer. Although Les' work is fairly bottom of the barrel (such as shooting photographs of Goldie Hawn eating lunch), he still declares the rest of society "peons". Les constantly tries to reaffirm that celebrities are no different than anybody else, which is a statement that becomes incredibly transparent when he can barely mutter a word while speaking with Elvis Costello. Les' character is absolutely fascinating and is without a doubt the heart of the picture. There are some familiar elements such as the scene where he visits his parents who disapprove of his line of work, but beyond that it felt like a fully realized and captivating character.

    Toby (Michael Pitt) is a young homeless kid trying to find a place to stay. He looks up to Les, and after being persistent he finally gets a gig as Les' assistant. Toby, however, is a handsome young man destined for stardom - and eventually, after falling for a pop singer, K'Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman), he becomes a major celebrity and heart throb. The other woman in his life is a casting director, Dana (Gina Gershon), a jealous woman who has a thing for Toby.

    The problem with the film is that it seems incredibly unbalanced. I really loved the way the picture was going in it's developing stages - the relationship between Les and Toby was great, and it was a fascinating little dynamic that Toby was looking up to such a loser. However, when Toby gets shot to super stardom at the rate he did, all of the heart of the film is completely lost. I really like Michael Pitt and I thought this was a very good performance, but his character just didn't have anywhere the level of intrigue that Les did. The plot is so filled with these contrivances in the second act that it really takes away from what had been a really fun and well shot film. Things feel so rushed in the second half that it completely loses the viewer.

    The exploration of paparazzi and the underbelly of the so-called "glamorous" life of a celebrity is not something that's newly discovered in film. In "Delirious", however, I really liked that they made us root for the photographers. They're so often portrayed as pests - while this film makes it clear that the celebrities need them to keep their face out there. Les' character is interesting because he's viewed as the scum of the Earth even though his role is absolutely crucial to the success of these celebrities.

    I found the soundtrack in the second half of the film to be rather overbearing. Every other scene seemed to be in another club or a clip from Toby's "reality" show, so we'd constantly get noise without any room for the quiet and intimate moments. The scale of the film becomes deceptively enormous for such a small independent film, but the problem here is that the joy of the film is in the little things. Everything beyond the quirky little indie world kind of missed it's target. For instance, I cracked a smile everytime Les would mention his plethora of "rule number one"s. The script is genuinely funny and a lot of fun, but the rise in stardom of Toby's character was so overdone, abrupt, and implausible.

    Although I had a lot of problems with "Delirious", it certainly isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. The performances all around are top notch, especially Steve Buscemi. The dialogue is always realistic and the relationships do seem legitimate. I loved everything in the film for about the first hour, however it completely lost me after that point and it only managed to salvage bits and pieces of itself in the last scene. This was mildly enjoyable, but ultimately underwhelming.
  • Jungian
    April 26, 2008
    Jungian
    Steve Buscemi plays as a paparazzo who, with the aid of a homeless Michael Pitt, leeches off the lives of celebrities. A film about potential, loyalty, exploitation, and the modern obsession with the rich and famous.
  • wbgoose13
    November 2, 2007
    wbgoose13
    Though more contrived than convincing, reeks of hard-earned insight, experience.
  • LisaMJ
    June 21, 2009
    LisaMJ
    I really liked this. I also liked Michael Pitt in this.
  • jfish4466
    September 17, 2009
    jfish4466
    I liked this movie overall even though it had some slow scenes. Michael Pitt was very good in this film, as he usually is. I really liked Alison Lohman's performance you can tell that she was using a certain real life pop star as inspiration. This film has a good story and it is ...( read more)entertaining. Steve Buscemi was very good as the psycho papparazzi. Overall this was a fairly good movie.
  • neagamb
    August 1, 2009
    neagamb
    For all its timeliness, DiCillo's film is a tender fable rather than a razor-sharp dissection of idol worship and fame-driven fantasies, and it's gently sympathetic to its cast of hustlers, hangers-on and prefab stars. Even Les' creepy self-delusion is more sad than creepy, and D...( read more)iCillo nails the details, from Les' piles of "collectible" junk and his hollow insistence that celebrities are no better than paparazzi to his career high points: photos of Goldie Hawn eating lunch and Elvis Costello (who appears as himself) without his trademark hat. Buscemi's twitchy, sweaty performance is the film's anchor (and an interesting counterpoint to 2007's INTERVIEW, in which he plays a flawed journalist entangled in a manipulative starlet's machinations), but Pitt's Toby is its counterpoint. More-experienced actors have come a cropper trying to play unworldliness and fundamental decency ? which isn't to say that Toby is above allowing himself to be used ? but Pitt never misses a step.
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  • brendanprost
    March 31, 2009
    brendanprost
    Visually exciting and exuberantly entertaining, Delirious is a well intentioned but not very intelligently articulated satire on the business of fame. Lots of fun characters and goofy plot setups, and surprisingly vivid visual direction.
  • mega7b
    March 9, 2009
    mega7b
    It's been a while since I last saw a film that bored me as much as DELIRIOUS. It had an empty story, bad performances & asked the audience to suspend disbelief way too many times for a normal, dramatic film.
    A bad film that had no direction & could never get past the bad, basic i...( read more)dea. The script & performances are extremely poor and I can't imagine anyone actually enjoying this film.
  • BettyWhaCknUt
    March 6, 2009
    BettyWhaCknUt
    "I told you man, don't take any pictures, you ruined everything for me!"

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Comments

  • Basht
    August 18, 2007
    Basht
    well according to flixster this is just hitting theatres (starting yesterday, aug 17th) and there is no sign of the dvd for this anywhere so my guess is that they are right. it premiered at sundance and is probably doing special select theatres now to get more of a word out.. so look for it in about 3-4 months. it should be available by then.
  • violetdreams81
    June 20, 2007
    violetdreams81
    still can't find this movie!!! if anyone has any info on where to rent this, please let me know!!!
  • violetdreams81
    April 17, 2007
    violetdreams81
    does anyone know where I can get this? I tried to rent from blockbuster online and they don't have it.
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