Tribeca 16: Jeff Goldblum is a dirty old man

More stuff. I think we may have one or two before we're done.....

Pittsburgh (U.S.A.)

A sort of Documentary Directed
by Kyle LaBrache and Chris Bradley

Catherine Wreford is a 25-year-old Canadian actress who has been married to a big shot movie star named Jeff Goldblum, who is old enough to be her father, for a couple of years now. If this film is to be believed, and we're not exactly sure if it should, she needed a green card, and the best way to get it was to get a part in a play before her work visa expired.

Now a few years back, Goldblum got together with filmmakers Kyle LaBrache and Chris Bradley about doing a film of some sort about him going to his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, exactly what, he wasn't sure. Then Catherine said that she might be up for a part in “The Music Man” there.

Ah-HAH!!!! Bradley, LaBrache and Goldblum thought. Why not do a Christopher Guest-style mock-umentary which actually crossed over the line to turn into a genuine documentary at some point.

So they decided to basically take over the production in Pittsburgh, which was real, and have everything leading up to it be improvisational comedy. It was a neat idea, but would it work?

Not really. Goldblum got his friends Ed Begley Jr. and Illeana Douglas to play along, and she may have gotten punker Richard “Moby” Hall to come aboard as her faux boyfriend. They “break up” at the Coney Island Mermaid parade. It doesn't work all that well.

The problem here is that we're not sure which is real and which isn't, so we can't exactly know what we supposed to be feeling. Is director Richard Sabellico really chewing Goldblum out for doing a lousy performance? We can't be sure.

Movie stars make vanity projects every now and then. Big deal.

Mini's First Time (U.S.A.) - World Premiere.

Written and Directed
by Nick Guthe

There is nothing Hollywood hates more than Hollywood, with the possible exception of President Bush. So without mentioning W. again here, Nick Guthe has decided to concentrate on that which he despises most, and comes up with a deliciously evil black comedy that's sure to elicit lots of shameful giggles throughout.

Mini(Nikki Reed) is the first person in her high school's history to become valedictorian while having a C-average. She's clearly not going to be that dumb.

Our protagonist lives with her über-bitch mother Diane(Carrie-Anne Moss) and her cuckolded stepfather Martin (Alec Baldwin) in one of the more expensive neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, where Mom spends her time lying around and planning to screw the pool boy and other members of the zillionaire support industry who are horny that day.

With nothing better to do and lots of money to do it with, Mini goes off on a meaningless existence of trying out “firsts,” one of which is working as a call-girl for a ritzy escort service. Here she's sent to service a guy who she later discovers is her step-dad.

Can incest and murder be far behind? Of course they can. But what to do about mom? That's where it starts getting good. This is one of the meanest movies in quite a while and it's hilarious.

Baldwin is a wonder. So is Moss, who takes a character she rarely ever does, and makes it her own. While it goes on they parody a few dozen genres and urban myths from slasher films to the casting couch. Jeff Goldblum is great in a small part as the horny next door neighbor. It's clear that everyone in the cast is having a whopping good time and we're invited to join in. Do so.