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The Kid Stays in the Picture
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Interesting biography about actor-producer Robert Evans that recounts his life as the producer of such films as "Love Story" and "The Godfather" before he spiraled downward into cocaine addiction. Distinctively narrated by Evans and based on his 1994 autobiography, directors Nanette Burstein and Brett MorgenĘs documentary is a sensorial pleasure with candy-colored digital collages and vintage film footage. But the one-sided, superficial jaunt down memory lane romanticizes Evans and may be of most interest to entertainment industry buffs. Mature themes, brief nudity and sexual suggestiveness with sporadic rough language. A-III - adults. (R) 2002
Full Review
Famed actor and Paramount Pictures producer Robert Evans is the subject of the interesting biography, "The Kid Stays in the Picture" (USA).
The documentary, directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen, is adapted from Evans' 1994 tell-all autobiography of the same title. After listening to the audio version of the memoirs, Burstein and Morgen were convinced that Evans had to be the subject of their next nonfiction film. But as the onetime head of Paramount, who was as well known for his extravagant and indulgent lifestyle as for his string of box-office hits (such as "Rosemary's Baby," "Love Story" and "The Godfather"), Evans took some coaxing.
The film chronicles Evans' life beginning when he was a young man of 25 who already had made his fortune with his brother in the Evan-Picone women's clothing line. It follows his "discovery" poolside by actress Norma Shearer, who handpicked the handsome Evans to play her husband Irving Thalberg opposite James Cagney in 1957's "The Man of a Thousand Faces."
Then, after a glamorous but short-lived career as an actor, Evans was chosen, at the young age of 34, to be the chief of production at Paramount Pictures. During his tenure, Evans brought the ninth-ranked Paramount to No. 1 and ushered onto the screen some of the best-received films of the era, including "Harold and Maude," "The Odd Couple" and "Chinatown."
The documentary is a sensorial pleasure with candy-colored digital collages. Still photographs -- appropriately matching the tales of Evans' life -- seem to come alive as backgrounds move while the subject remains still. Small touches, such as smoke billowing from a cigarette seen in a photograph, give the film a deceptive but intriguing sense of motion. The documentary is also loaded with clips from Evans' career as well as archival footage and reveals behind-the-scenes peeks of several productions, including a whimsical Mia Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby."
Evans distinctively narrates the film, in his raspy, seductive baritone, combining some of the audio from his book-on-tape version as well as some newly recorded dialogue. As involving a storyteller as Evans proves to be, the result of exclusively using his words is that the film is narrowly one-sided. It also tends to further Evans' self-lionizing posture. The only balance is his self-deprecating humor.
The documentary glosses over his more troubled times, including his cocaine addiction and drug bust, as well as his peripheral connection to a Hollywood murder, all of which left him to endure deep depression, rehab and professional exile. And, of his many wives and love affairs, only his marriage to Ali McGraw is mentioned in detail.
"The Kid Stays in the Picture" is a romanticized view of Evans as a fighter who only through tremendous will power and uncanny luck was able to claw his way back from near-obscurity to hot and hip again. But while the average audience may find some interest in Evans' improbable, flamboyant rise and fall as the golden boy of 1970s' Hollywood, they may just as easily be turned off by the film's rose-tinted-glasses point of view. In the end, the documentary may be most enjoyed by enthusiasts of the entertainment industry.
Due to mature themes, brief nudity and sexual suggestiveness with sporadic rough language, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
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