Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

shinsrevenge I felt so furious during the first 20 minutes. Not at the movie, but at what happened there. A movie star (Laramie) and his family become the targets of ruthless Paparazzi that do anything for a "good" story. Yet you can't deny the argument of Rex Harper, the leader of the Paparazzi group, when he explains his reasons and thinking to a random woman he met. He says that people don't approve his means, but are just fine with the reading and watching the results. They want the outcome, but nothing have to do with how it was achieved. That's a strong message and it has you thinking. Good job with that. Anyway, the group of "evil" Paparazzi causes the actor and his family to get into a car accident. His wife gets wounded and his child is in a coma. As fate or luck would have it, another accident causes one of the Paparazzi to get in mortal danger, his life depending on the helpfulness of Laramie. So far, so good. But for some reason they decided that the Paparazzi would threaten to destroy more of Laramie's life even before he was saved. Given the deviousness and slyness they had shown so far, this is highly unrealistic and unbelievable. Necessary for the plot, maybe. But it doesn't make any sense. Same goes for the second Paparazzi. While he is stopped by the police and tries to draw the driver license out of his jacket, he pulls out a gun instead. A gun that Laramie placed there so that the police would shoot the Paparazzi. Yeah right, because a gun feels just like a driver license. "Oh, that feels weird. I better get it out and check what it is. Right now!" Meanwhile an older detective tries to figure what's behind all the accidents, starting from the first one early in the movie. But it takes him an hour to even think about checking the traffic cams for proof of what's really happened. Because when there's a traffic accident in the middle of the city with unclear guild party (and one fatality), the traffic cams are apparently the last thing you'd check. Stupid. Sadly that describes big parts of movie. Well, it did have a good start and the end was kind of okay. All things considered it's about average.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Paparazzi is one of those ones that probably sounded pretty silly on paper, but one of the studio execs had a good sense of humour on a morning after getting laid and said "aw hell, green light this just for kicks." It doesn't hurt to have Mel Gibson as a producer either, who also makes the teensiest cameo. The concept is simple: action film star Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) is harassed by a sleazy hyena pack of determined celebrity photographers, until they take it one step too far, resulting in tragedy. Bo then plays the art imitating life card, goes all vigilante on them and quite literally hunts each one down and kills them. A synopsis like that has to illicit a dark chuckle from anyone who reads it, and you'd think the resulting film would be oodles of fun, but they've somewhat played it safe. A concept this ridiculous should be over the top, reach for the stars insane, a hard R black comedy Death Wish set in Hollywood, if you will. What we get is something more on the glossy side, the filmmakers dipping their toe into the pond of potential, yet never saying 'fuck it' and diving right in. The paparazzos are played to the heights of hilarity by a solid scumbag troupe: Tom Sizemore is so perfect as their a-hole ringleader, just a dime piece of a casting choice. Daniel Baldwin looks seriously haggard, while Tom Hollander and Kevin 'Wainegro' Gage round out this quartet. Dennis Farina is fun as a sharp, shrewd Detective who gets wise to Bo's act as well. It's all serviceable, and yet I wish it went that extra mile to give us something downright shocking and memorable. Perhaps they should have reworked the script, brought in a wild card director and gone the indie route. Oh well.

Python Hyena Paparazzi (2004): Dir: Paul Abascal / Cast: Cole Hauser, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Farina, Robin Tunney, Daniel Baldwin: Thriller about invasion that might have stated a better argument had it avoided standard revenge clichés that cheapen it. It stars Cole Hauser as a rising action star whose family is threatened by paparazzi photographers when unfavorable photos appear in the tabloids. When they cause his wife and son injuries in a car accident Hauser seeks revenge. Great setup spirals into revenge clichés where Hauser knocks off the guilty photographers and gets away with it. That may be a fitting fantasy for the makers of this film, but it shatters its conviction. Director Paul Abascal displays the lifestyles of celebrities and paparazzi. Hauser does well before the revenge finale as he struggles with the side affects of fame. Robin Tunney plays his fearful wife whose life is put in jeopardy. Dennis Farina plays an investigator who suspects Hauser of foul play but cannot prove it. The role is very one note, as is Tom Sizemore as an aggressive photographer. Sizemore takes the aggressive photographer to new heights but unfortunately that isn't a compliment. He comes off as a thug, which also damages credibility. Daniel Baldwin plays another camera brandishing idiot whose job is invading the privacy of celebrities. Provocative theme about the price of fame. Score: 6 ½ / 10

Brandt Sponseller It's surprising that no one has made this film before now, because it's not only a great idea, I'd bet it's a fantasy that many huge stars have had. Hell, it's a fantasy I have as an everyday schlub when people bug me--or even when I'm in crowds and people are pushy.The odd thing, with the talent and money involved, is that Paparazzi has the feel of a made-for-television film. And one look at director Paul Abascal's resume gives us a likely reason--this is his only feature film as helmer so far, although he has close to twenty television credits on his resume, plus an impressive list of titles behind him as a Hollywood hairstylist (which causes me to try to remember the hairstyles in Paparazzi . . . but I just don't tend to pay that much attention to them, unless they're something pleasantly weird like Diva Zappa's hair as "The Drill Girl" in Children of the Corn 5: Fields of Terror (1998)).But as a made-for-television film, Paparazzi is excellent, and as a major release, it's very good. While the story may be a fairly pedestrian tale of revenge--albeit a touch more clever in the end--what makes Paparazzi excel is the performances. Cole Hauser is perfect as the slightly bewildered "normal guy" suddenly catapulted to stardom. Few people can do sleazeball better than Tom Sizemore and Daniel Baldwin; they're at their best here. And by this point, Dennis Farina is such a master of playing both a cop and a thug that I expect to hear on the news that he's arrested himself.