See This Movie (2004)

Background: This movie stars Seth Myers and John Cho, even has them right on the front of the box. Seth Myers is now known for being the head writer of Saturday Night Live and host of the very popular Weekend Update segment. John Cho is probably best known for being Harold in of the Harold and Kumar movies. he's also had roles in the short lived (and lamented by me) show Kitchen Confidential and was Sulu in the recent Star Trek movie reboot. Most people will recognize him though from the American Pie movies. See This Movie was made after those, but before Harold And Kumar and well before Seth Myers hot his head writer gig, he was only a featured player at the time.

Director and Cowriter David M. Rosenthal has only a few other credits to his name and nothing of any real note. He has definite credentials though. He holds a master's degree from the American Film Institute. This was his first feature film, which is why it's curious that it appears from the outside to be another Hollywood satire. These never go well...

Plot: Seth Myers and John Cho are students in a three day film school taught by an incredibly mumbly Jim Piddock. Seth's film, a short where he rants for a few minutes and not a lot more, wins the student choice award. When celebrating, he finds out that his ex curates the Montreal Film Festival, and he decides that this would be an easy door to get a film in. The problem is, the festival is three months away and he doesn't have a film yet.

The movie he decides to make will be a meta-fiction about the film industry, a dramatic mockumentary, or Drockumentary as he calls it. It's called Shooting From The Soul. In order to bang out the movie as quickly as possible, he decides that he only really needs a few scenes, the ones people remember. The fight scene, the love scene and the redemption at the end.  There are a few scenes where they're shooting those important scenes, but it quickly becomes apparent that those aren't the important parts.

Things kinda run off the railes from there. There are a few times where characters will address the fact that there's a camera in the room, looking straight at it and talking to it, things like that. Then Seth Myers starts directing the movie that we're actually watching, or editing a scene that we just watched, as if the movie we're watching is the movie he's making for the festival.There are other scenes though where this premise doesn't make any sense, like how no one else ever acknowledges the cameras.

Myers accidentally takes ecstasy. You can predict how that goes. His freakout goes on a long time. During this time he can't get an erection when he tries to get back with his ex, but then he comes in his pants. Fuck this entire part of the movie.

Things become increasingly erratic on the set. One of his actresses is selling ecstasy and she ends up almost leaving. Every girl wants a piece of Jim Piddock (He's supposed to be really cool or something. This is shown by the fact that he is almost never shown not smoking). Myers goes through an existential crisis. His ex sleeps with with Piddock and Cho tells him several times that he can never ever tell Myers. That can't go wrong.

There are a few more scenes where it's impossible to tell what's the movie Myers is shooting and what's just the movie we're watching. There's also a pensive reflection scene over some appropriately pensively reflective music. Another pretty terrible trope. Myers then runs down to the venue where his movie will be shown, where he tearfully admits that he doesn't have a film. Turns out, Jim Piddock took all the footage that we've been watching and turned it into a movie, and that's shown to the audience. They like it a whole lot more than I did.

Why Was It Forgotten? Hollywood satires are rarely very popular. Even when they gain recognition, they're almost never heralded outside of film nerd circles. The film also has super low production quality. The sound level is all over the place and it was obviously filmed on a fairly cheap digital camera. There should also probably be more jokes, or maybe the jokes should just be funnier. I dunno. The movie tries very hard to be smart and biting and misses the mark on both counts really consistently.

Also, that goddamned drug freakout scene. Ugh.

What Went Right? The two stars are pretty consistently enjoyable. John Cho is playing essentially his Harold role of peacekeeper with his idiot friend. He's a guy that's in way over his head and his friend just keeps digging him in deeper. It's a role he plays often, but it's a role he plays well. Myers for his part, even when the jokes might not be great, he always sells them. The drug freakout may be a horrible trope, but you can never say he doesn't go for it.

Verdict: I really have to stop watching Hollywood satires.

Score: 15%