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An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

Play trailer Poster for An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn R 1998 1h 26m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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8% Tomatometer 37 Reviews 15% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The cast and crew of an action movie tell why its institutionalized director stole and destroyed the film.
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An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

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Critics Consensus

A witless Hollywood satire whose hammy, obvious jokes are neither funny nor insightful of the movie business.

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Critics Reviews

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John Hartl Seattle Times 03/25/2013
1.5/4
The level of humor could be called sophomoric, but that would insult most sophomores. Go to Full Review
Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune 03/25/2013
1.5/4
A comedy without laughs, an expose without point. Go to Full Review
Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly 09/07/2011
F
What turns the witlessness rancid is the way the movie is saturated in the very corruption it thinks it's ridiculing. Go to Full Review
Daniel Barnes Dare Daniel 08/09/2022
1/5
Joe Eszterhas’ lame, career-killing non-movie is 85 minutes of an over-validated, out-of-touch, inexplicably bitter screenwriter grinding an ax and making O.J. jokes. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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amine karoui 02/24/2024 masterpiece !!!!!!!!! See more Aaron C 10/01/2022 Worst film I ever seen... I need to watch it again to remind myself of how bad it is See more 09/14/2021 This is the worst film I have ever seen in my entire life. There are not enough superlatives to describe just how gut-wrenchingly awful it is. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. See more camille l 02/18/2021 Le fait d'utiliser Harvey Weinstein himself en détective privé est peut-être ce qui rend Burn Hollywood Burn aussi méchant et osé en 2020, mais force est de constater que le film (renié depuis) d'Arthur Hiller est une comédie réussie sur le Hollywood des années 1990. Clairement, Burn Hollywood Burn est un film foncièrement méchant, de ce fait très inégal et parfois un peu comme un album d'Eminem, débile mais aveuglement incisif et donc qui, à force de taper sur tout le monde tout le temps gratuitement fait parfois mouche. Et comme pour Eminem, le côté sale gosse du film peut énerver car il est réalisé par des adultes en bonne et due forme et non pas des enfants de 10 ans en manque d'attention, mais il témoigne aussi d'une envie de mutinerie assez salvatrice quand les gags font mouche. Chuck D et Coolio sont formidables. See more 07/23/2020 Satires about the movie industry have existed since the Golden Age, with classics such as Blake Edwards's S.O.B. to Robert Altman's The Player. Unfortunately, one of the blackest sheeps of Hollywood parody is the mockumentary film Burn Hollywood Burn, one that attempts to realize Alan Smithee, a pseudonym for film directors who claim disownment of their projects. Here, Smithee (Eric Idle) is an English filmmaker who, tired of being the studio punchline, steals the reels for his $200 million motion picture "Trio" and threatens to burn them unless Hollywood agrees to release his original version. "Trio" is an action movie-within-a-movie starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan as three gun-wielding detectives. Various studio heads get interviewed from James Edmonds (Ryan O'Neal), Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni), and the Brothers Brothers (Chuck D and Coolio), all of which try to talk Alan out of burning his movie. Obviously, Burn Hollywood Burn tries to be for movies what Rob Reiner's This is Spinal Tap does for the music industry, but this one doesn't take any risks or try to attack the Hollywood system. Instead, it aims for the obvious, with painful in-jokes, tired visual gags, painfully offensive African American stereotypes, obligatory celebrity cameos and sleazy interviewee subtitles, all in a desperate attempt for a laugh. In fact, I was surprised that everyone involved in the making didn't change their names to Alan Smithee, especially Harvey Weinstein (surprisingly, not his most shameful act). At least Arthur Hiller, usually a talented director in his own right, had the courage to back out. Whatever the case, Burn Hollywood Burn sucks. (1/2 Blackface Cane out of 5) See more 09/03/2019 Greatest mocumentary ever! Haters are just haters! First it was too keen, and Hollywood bonzas were afraid of its truth. Then hamsters followed: "Oh, everybody hates it? Cool, I gonna hate it too". After weinsteingate this film looks like prophecy! Authors knew it in 90s, and they showed the true face of Hollywood. I watched it in 2019 in one breath. By the way, everything toched by Eric Idle turns to gold. See more Read all reviews
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

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Movie Info

Synopsis The cast and crew of an action movie tell why its institutionalized director stole and destroyed the film.
Director
Arthur Hiller
Producer
Ben Myron
Screenwriter
Joe Eszterhas
Production Co
Hollywood Pictures, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 27, 1998, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$43.9K
Runtime
1h 26m
Sound Mix
Surround
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