Paparazzi (2004)

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.

Paparazzi is a film that was worked on by Mel Gibson. I often see it at flea markets and wanted to try it out. It was surprisingly good. A solid revenge film.Bo Laramie is an up and coming action star. He gets badgered by a troupe of tryhard members of the paparazzi, and after multiple incursions based upon their stalking they go too far and cause Bo and his family to almost die in a car wreck.This film has some great writing, dialogue, and the story is believable and pretty original. The acting is good and it has an all-star cast. The musical score is decent. There isn't much action, per se and the little you get isn't all that great, but this is a revenge film that focuses more on manipulation than the Gung Ho, kill these mofo's style.Paparazzi is smart and entertaining. It definitely isn't as good as most other revenge films, but it's something different and I liked it. Paparazzi gets an 8/10.

This film was quite entertaining, i have watched 10 films on sky in the past 4 days and this was one of the better ones, the story wasn't fully true but the paparazzi do hassle celebrities and in this film where the paparazzi harm Bo Laramie's family he wants revenge and does this extremely cleverly, this film was not totally true to life but is beleiveable, the killings/accidents are realistic. The acting in this film is very good and you even get to see Bo doing a scene in a movie that was made up for the film which looked extremely real and very convincing. All in all if you want a family film with some suspense this is a film for you, i really enjoyed it and after watching the first half an hour did not want to turn it off.Entertaining = 7/10, Interesting = 7/10

CONTAINS SPOILERSAh, Paparazzi - where to start? So bad it's good. Entertainment in the form of Hollywood whining over it's lot in life - to be forever dogged by photographers - O NOEZ!!! Even I, a non-celebrity got the point of this celluloid tale: "Paparazzi bad! Movie stars picked on! Kill all the photographers!"As bad as the paparazzi are, not every stinking one of them are the bloodsuckers that this film portrays them to be. These photographers were CRIMINALS. Just because a man carries a camera for a living does not mean that he's got a warrant for his arrest out for illegal possession of weapons, rape, etc. Give me a break. And if they're earning so much from their ambulance-chasing, why do they still all live like pigs in squalor? BECAUSE PAPARAZZI ARE EVIL CHILD KILLERS, REMEMBER?The movie star (handsome-enough and little else Cole Hauser) is portrayed as a fresh-scrubbed, corn-fed farm-boy who had just made it big and is suddenly, mercilessly hounded by the press. The photographers apparently are willing to do anything to get a picture, even kill the source of their income, said maligned film star. A number of little details were there to make us sympathize with the celebrity. 1) He comes from the mid-west, and he's just made it big. 2) He's a family man with strong values. 3) He drives a modest car and lives in a modest home. 4) He's super nice to almost everyone, including the coach of his son's soccer team and the young grocery store clerk.This film is basically Hollywood's revenge - everything bad about the paparazzi is magnified (because yes, I agree, they certainly are bad) and everything decent about the film stars is thrown up in our face (he just wants to watch his son's soccer game! The photographer is threatening his cherub-faced boy! O woe!) I liked the celebrity character until he began plotting or allowing the death's of the paparazzi. Yes, they were scumbags. Yes, they deserved to be behind bars - maybe even dead. But since when does a movie star have the right to take justice into his own hands? Bo goes a little crazy, starts making like Rambo in real life and before we know it, every one of the shutter-bugs is sleeping with the fishes. The last shot of the movie shows our noble hero smiling away at the flashing cameras, reveling in his fame - content now that all the OMGEVIL!photographers have been done away with. There's no business like show business...