Oh god - where to begin. If I were you, I wouldn't. I rented out this complete waste of time from the video store - and I am thankful every night that I didn't waste hard-earned cash on its purchase.
On the surface this film should be a winner - look at the cast: Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Brad Pitt, David Duchovney, David Hyde Pierce - the list goes on. Then theres the director -Steven Soderburgh, the guy who can direct big budget flashy films (Oceans 11), big budget gritty drama (Traffic) and low budget-high brow art (Sex, lies & videotape) with equal aplomb. The Hollywood studios must have been falling over themselves to sign up this one thinking it was going to be Oscar material for sure.
So where does it all fall wrong? Being honest I can't really pin-point it. The camera is NYPD Blue hand-held, the script seems to have been made up on the spot and the locations are (or at least seem to be) open to the public so that on several instances you can see passers-by doing a double-take on the proceedings. Basically this a Hollywood version of the mid-90's experiment that was Dogme (that Danish well-intended mess that produced Lar van Triers 'The Idiots') and it doesnt work half as well given the size of the egos on show here. The film is supposed to be a satirical take on the whole Hollywood scene, but given the nature of celebrity (if everywhere you go, you're treated like a god and given preferential treatment would you be able to remain normal for long?) it doesn't really work. No-one likes to bitch about themselves and Hollywood stars are no exception, plus there seems to be a pre-vailing need not to bite (or even savage too much) the over-indulging studio hand that feeds. Had this film be made a la 'Sex, lies & videotape', with a largely unknown (but talented) cast, then this film could have been so much more. As it is, it isn't.
I can't stress enough the importance of avoiding this film. If nothing else, it might prevent future 'hey - i'm hip and can do art, watch me do art' self-indulgent directors from being given free reign. If Amazon would allow me to give minus scores, this would rate minus-5 stars.