Morty Fineman is the king of independent filmmaking -- at least in terms of longevity and bad taste. He's made 427 features over the past 40 years, most of them with an emphasis on "t & a and bombs." This film, half mockumentary in the spirit of "This is Spinal Tap" and "Best in Show," half narrative of the waning days of Morty, his savvy daughter Paloma's efforts to finance one more film, and his assistant Max's efforts to get Morty featured in a film festival SOMEWHERE (he ends up headlining the brand-new one in the tiny prairie town of Chaparral, Nevada), is often hilarious if a bit labored. There are lots of bogus clips from Fineman's films. Stiller is great as the clueless but ever ebullient Fineman (an Ed Wood for our times), Garofalo bravely assays the somewhat thankless role of straight man to his antics. Stiller's real son Ben cameos as a cop, his daughter Amy as "Foxy Chocolate Robot," and his longtime comedy partner and spouse Anne Meara has a supporting role as Morty's ex-wife who lives on the streets of Beverly Hills in a Rolls. Larry Hankin is perfect as a strait-jacketed serial killer who wants to have songs included in the bio-pic that Morty proposes to make of his life. A big plus is the array of real film directors -- Ron Howard, Roger Corman, Nick Cassavetes, Ted Demme, and especially Peter Bogdanovich -- and "casting couch" actress Karen Black who talk about Morty's greatness. Don't miss the end credits, which list all of Fineman's films.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus