This is a satirical comedy following a down-on-his-luck publicist, Lenny (Ken Jeong), who gets his lucky break when he discovers a man recently released from a mental health facility (Charlie Day) looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer. With the help of a powerful producer (the late Ray Liotta) he helps the man become a huge star, even marrying his beautiful leading lady, Christiana Dior (Kate Beckinsale). Their adventures lead them to cross paths with a drunken co-star, Chad Luxt (Afrien Brody), an irreverent unhinged action hero, Kyle Tyson (Common), an unpredictable director, Lex Tanner (Jason Sudeikis), a super-agent (Edie Falco) and a power-mad mogul, Ed Cote (John Malkovich). Fame and fortune are not all they are cracked up to be, and the two men must fight their way back to the things that matter the most.
Others to round out the cast are Steve Coulter as Tony London, Jason Bateman as SPFX tech, Mary Elizabeth Ellis as makeup woman #1, Drew Droege as male hairdresser, Artemis Rebdoni as makeup woman #2, Leonora Pitts as script supervisor and Jimmi Simpson as talk show host.
This was directed with such feeling and awareness of his actors by Charlie Day. Amazingly, this actor hasn't directed anything including TV, shorts or videos which is difficult to believe, since the actors in this were incredible and their respective emotions were harnessed exactly where they needed to be, and this is insightful directing. Certainly Day has observed other directors he has worked with within the decades he has acted and it truly has paid off with this film. He directed his actors all the while he, himself played a dual role which is daunting for any seasoned filmmaker much less a filmmaker making his directorial debut. He will receive more work behind the camera. This was also interestingly written by Charlie Day ("Boldly Going Nowhere" (TV movie) '09) plus TV and a video. As I was viewing this film, I couldn't help but think of the 1979 film, "Being There" with the late Peter Sellers who played a 'simple' individual who was inadvertently placed in a situation where, because of his simpleness, had no way to correct people when they thought that he was so insightful. This film had a similar flavor to it as with "Being There". This certainly doesn't impune this film in that there are other important aspects that are very different in both films, such as one can speak and one cannot, one lived in a mansion taken care of and one was released from a mental health facility, one became involved with a political group of people and one became involved with a film crew. But the demeanor was amazingly similar where both characters were basically heartwarming which made them each poignant. Not only has Day proved his ability to direct, but his writing as well. Both "Being There" and this film, considering that there is a 4+ decades of time in between their respective release dates, it shows how much people can and are self absorbed and will make much ado out of nothing. Even in this film, the producer (Liotta) would shout much of the time to get him a latte pronto, that, after a point when he shouted that in Day's presence, someone heard that and assumed that the character Day played was named Latte Pronto. And, since Day's character didn't know to correct it, he just went with it. Were there flaws in this? Sure, but other than a couple of places of continuity issues, this story was amazing.
This was satire at its finest. If you like satire as I do, you'll love this. It has it all, humor, adventure, insightfulness, poignancy and light drama all the while being the social and cultural commentary that is riddled within this screenplay. It truly shows us how we can take something so easy and simple and make it so complex and confusing.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: R 98mins.
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