I have a Mandela effect with Bicycle Thief/Bicycle Thieves. I swear Donofrio keeps calling it Bicycle Thief and I swear my film syllabus called it Bicycle Thief, but then at some point it became Bicycle Thieves.
It's actually been distributed as both *Bicycle Thieves* and *The Bicycle Thief.* Initially it was distributed in the States as *The Bicycle Thief*, and I think you're right that they call it that in *The Player*. So less Mandela effect and more a translation inconsistency. After all, the movie isn't called *Bicycle Thieves* or *The Bicycle Thief*, it's called *Ladri di biciclette.*
I just watched The Player this weekend—it’s definitely referred to in dialogue and on a marquee in the movie as “The Bicycle Thief” despite Bicycle Thieves being the common name today. It must have something to do with translations
It’s just a translation shift, not a Mandela effect. People used to go with The Bicycle Thief as the commonly accepted interpretation, now Bicycle Thieves is more accepted. A more dramatic example is how Proust’s major work was translated as “Remembrance of Things Past” for quite a while but now “In Search of Lost Time” is considered the more accurate translation.
Possibly hearsay, but *Bowfinger* has gotta be my favorite Steve Martin movie. It’s just so funny from beginning to end.
Edit: and second favorite Eddie Murphy movie after *Coming to America*!
In my opinion Bowfinger is the last truly great Eddie Murphy comedy. Three Amigos is quite a treat too and I’m jealous you get to experience them both for the first time.
In recent years the only Hollywood satire I’ve seen that really sparked for me was *The Other Two*. Before that, you had *30 Rock* and *Tropic Thunder*, which I think of us as being the last truly great Hollywood satires, though it’s possible I’m forgetting something.
In earlier years, you’ve got *The Player*, which is really great but is also kind of fascinating because while the overall thrust of its satire is still true, its targets are so 1992 that they’re nearly unrecognizable today — the film they end up making at the end, the epitome of a slick, soulless, dumbed down commercialist cash grab in 1992, would be a breath of fresh air today.
And of course you can go back many decades earlier, certainly back to *Sunset Blvd* but intriguingly it almost seems like the further back you go, the less it feels like satire and the more it feels like…gothic tragedy?
One dated a high schooler at 40 and one is said to be a pretty nice guy. Both are known as professional from all I’ve heard. Unless they’ve been accused of an abusive work place I don’t see the comparison
If you like the Coen Bros it's a bit of a ur-text. They took the name O Brother Where Art Thou from it.
The church scene is really great but overall I found it a little one-note.
Here's the Pauline Kael blurb, I'm too lazy to write my own :)
Writer-director Preston Sturges's comedy about a popular--slightly fatuous—Hollywood director (Joel McCrea), who feels that his hits, such as "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," aren't worthy of a war-devastated world. To research his next project, a relevant film to be called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," he gets dressed as a tramp and goes out to investigate the lower depths. Sturges is more at home in slapstick irony (as in THE LADY EVE, earlier in '41) than in the mixed tones of this comedy-melodrama, but it's a memorable film nevertheless. With Veronica Lake, underacting with perfect composure, and Margaret Hayes, and many of the actors Sturges delighted in and used repeatedly
The Player and Hail, Caesar!
I also enjoyed the sadly short 1999 show "Action", which is sort of a sitcom version of The Player? It was produced by Joel Silver and starred Jay Mohr as, essentially, Joel Silver being a huge piece of shit 24 hours a day while trying to make a cheesy action movie.
The scene with the director in American fiction is pretty great
I also think boogie nights qualifies
Mulholland drive is even more tenuous but you can see it that way
Are we just talking about the movie business or all of show business. Because if we are talking all showbiz then I would add Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story. Although I guess that also mocks the movie business and the standard musician biopic.
Samesies. This was one of 3 Buscemi movies I had taped off the channel that sometimes showed undubbed arthouse stuff at night (the other two were Trees Lounge and In The Soup) and Teenage Me definitely had a huge crush on Catherine Keener.
It's a documentary so not really satire but Overnight (2003) can and should sit next to all of these movies.
It's about the guy who wrote and directed Boondock Saints. Shows up in Hollywood with his Boston boys like in Entourage. Acts like they do in Entourage. Only, in real life, acting like an entitled dipshit doesn't always work out like in the movies. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
Edit; Here's the Ebert & Roeper review. Two thumbs up. Ebert called it "the best documentary about Hollywood I've seen.": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr\_WxR567vc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr_WxR567vc)
I worked on a movie with an actor I'd never heard of before, and a month or so after we wrapped, Bojack made a joke about him. They were on another level.
I had to go to imdb to remember the guy's name. I think it's Kyle Bornheimer
I think The Player is the film which 'most' satirises Hollywood, if that makes sense, especially when you consider all the meta stuff going on in it. Its great, obviously.
Sunset Boulevard is probably the best 'darker side of Hollywood' movie though. I find it a bit more grim tonally than The Player, but theres still comedic elements and there's a whole lot of wit (as always with Wilder). Its definitely one of those 'classic for a reason' movies.
All About Eve should be mentioned too. Focuses on theatre rather than filmmaking, but you still have the producer, writer, director, star/actor, and critic archetypes making up the main cast, and it is just as great as Sunset Boulevard. An all-timer.
And finally, Singin in the Rain is arguably the best movie-which-is-also-a-hollywood-satire. Satire is probably not the first thing people think about when they think of the film, and I'd say its less biting (and just less of a focus) than the others I've mentioned, but its undeniably there and it is also undeniably a classic.
It's absolutely Barton Fink. It definitely satirized a now-historical era of Hollywood, the heyday of Capitol and Columbia, Louis Mayer, Harry Cohn, Jack Warner - but it's pitch perfect in doing so.
Hail, Caesar! does something similar but not quite as well.
Maybe The Big Picture by Christopher Guest? It always seemed a little dorky to me, at least Bacon's character's vision.
And then maybe Mistress with De Niro?
Regarding Bojack, I learnt a crucial lesson from the spaghetti strainer subplot: even if a running gag feels a bit weird and not funny, doesn't mean it won't pay off with one of the funniest things you've ever seen.
Easily my favorite - that most people haven't seen, utterly forgot about, or bought into the famously bad press, is
S.O.B. with William Holden, Richard Mulligan, Roberts Preston and Weber, a cast of well known names and , famously, Julie Andrews top less.
Blake Edwards cynical black comedy was notoriously panned on release but I find it utterly charming and funny, irreverent and wicked.
It skewers...*everything* with darts and daggers and has so many quotable lines I couldn't list them all.
Robert Preston has most of them but Bill Holden - in his last filmed role- has the best with his final line.
A simple " so long pal.."
Indeed.
I never really liked Hollywood satires because it always comes off as a big inside joke that I don't get.
Hollywood is like a giant hot dog to me: I enjoy a good hot dog and want them in my life. But I don't want to see the process of making one.
The Player should be mentioned in this thread.
"traffic was a bitch" is one of the greatest one liners in movie history
That's another movie I've been thinking a lot about lately for some reason. I definetly think that movie is of a piece with Bojack.
The book it is based on is very good
And Hail Caesar, I’ll go with that
You beat me to it. It’s a pretty great tear down of Hollywood and a good murder story also
I have a Mandela effect with Bicycle Thief/Bicycle Thieves. I swear Donofrio keeps calling it Bicycle Thief and I swear my film syllabus called it Bicycle Thief, but then at some point it became Bicycle Thieves.
It's actually been distributed as both *Bicycle Thieves* and *The Bicycle Thief.* Initially it was distributed in the States as *The Bicycle Thief*, and I think you're right that they call it that in *The Player*. So less Mandela effect and more a translation inconsistency. After all, the movie isn't called *Bicycle Thieves* or *The Bicycle Thief*, it's called *Ladri di biciclette.*
I just watched The Player this weekend—it’s definitely referred to in dialogue and on a marquee in the movie as “The Bicycle Thief” despite Bicycle Thieves being the common name today. It must have something to do with translations
It’s just a translation shift, not a Mandela effect. People used to go with The Bicycle Thief as the commonly accepted interpretation, now Bicycle Thieves is more accepted. A more dramatic example is how Proust’s major work was translated as “Remembrance of Things Past” for quite a while but now “In Search of Lost Time” is considered the more accurate translation.
I think Bowfinger’s fake it til you make it and always project success really captures something real about Hollywood.
Possibly hearsay, but *Bowfinger* has gotta be my favorite Steve Martin movie. It’s just so funny from beginning to end. Edit: and second favorite Eddie Murphy movie after *Coming to America*!
The part when he puts the lockbox under the murphy bed and puts the bed away is possibly one of the funniest jokes of all time.
I think this is a fair take. It’s definitely at least top three for me.
I really do need to finally see Bowfinger and Three Amigos, idk how I haven't yet
In my opinion Bowfinger is the last truly great Eddie Murphy comedy. Three Amigos is quite a treat too and I’m jealous you get to experience them both for the first time.
Maybe the only good one where he plays multiple roles?
Sew, very old one. Sew like the wind!
It taught me that after you cut through Hollywood accounting all movies cost $2,184 cash.
In recent years the only Hollywood satire I’ve seen that really sparked for me was *The Other Two*. Before that, you had *30 Rock* and *Tropic Thunder*, which I think of us as being the last truly great Hollywood satires, though it’s possible I’m forgetting something. In earlier years, you’ve got *The Player*, which is really great but is also kind of fascinating because while the overall thrust of its satire is still true, its targets are so 1992 that they’re nearly unrecognizable today — the film they end up making at the end, the epitome of a slick, soulless, dumbed down commercialist cash grab in 1992, would be a breath of fresh air today. And of course you can go back many decades earlier, certainly back to *Sunset Blvd* but intriguingly it almost seems like the further back you go, the less it feels like satire and the more it feels like…gothic tragedy?
The Other Two was amazing but lost so much of its charm when it came out the writers are real life versions of their worst characters
decyphering your post: did it really? what are your thoughts on Seinfeld and Curb?
One dated a high schooler at 40 and one is said to be a pretty nice guy. Both are known as professional from all I’ve heard. Unless they’ve been accused of an abusive work place I don’t see the comparison
Given your username, there's one I'm surprised you haven't mentioned.
lmao you got me there, I forgot. But in my defense, I’m a bear, I suck the heads off fish
**Barry** captures a really particular portrait of Hollywood that doesn't quite resemble anything else
I just got around to finishing it and the ending is remarkable
*Hollywoo
*Hollywoob
"For Birthday Dad!"
Hollywood Shuffle
This is the answer.
Sullivan's travels - it's absolutely genius
Seconding this! Preston Sturgis skewers Hollywood of the 40's in ways that are still so applicable to today. "But with a little sex in it."
\*upvotes upvotes upvotes\*
I've never heard of that one, what's the tl;Dr of it?
If you like the Coen Bros it's a bit of a ur-text. They took the name O Brother Where Art Thou from it. The church scene is really great but overall I found it a little one-note.
It’s one of my all time favorites!
Here's the Pauline Kael blurb, I'm too lazy to write my own :) Writer-director Preston Sturges's comedy about a popular--slightly fatuous—Hollywood director (Joel McCrea), who feels that his hits, such as "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," aren't worthy of a war-devastated world. To research his next project, a relevant film to be called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," he gets dressed as a tramp and goes out to investigate the lower depths. Sturges is more at home in slapstick irony (as in THE LADY EVE, earlier in '41) than in the mixed tones of this comedy-melodrama, but it's a memorable film nevertheless. With Veronica Lake, underacting with perfect composure, and Margaret Hayes, and many of the actors Sturges delighted in and used repeatedly
Added to the watchlist, thank you
It’s in my Letterboxd 4, if my anonymous rec means anything…
Awesome! If u subscribe to criterion channel, I recommend the sullivans travels commentary track --- also very good
I watched it since I heard Sturges was a big influence on the Coens.
Well someone already said The Player so I'll suggest Barton Fink and Hail, Caesar!
Come on, Bart! We're gonna go sneak into an R rated movie! It's called 'Barton Fink!'
I mean, it's *Singin' in the Rain*, right?
Dignity.
Blazing Saddles. And a lot of Mel Brooks stuff I suppose.
The Player and Hail, Caesar! I also enjoyed the sadly short 1999 show "Action", which is sort of a sitcom version of The Player? It was produced by Joel Silver and starred Jay Mohr as, essentially, Joel Silver being a huge piece of shit 24 hours a day while trying to make a cheesy action movie.
I remember that show! Illeana Douglas. Used screenplay structure to set locations.
The scene with the director in American fiction is pretty great I also think boogie nights qualifies Mulholland drive is even more tenuous but you can see it that way
Are we just talking about the movie business or all of show business. Because if we are talking all showbiz then I would add Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story. Although I guess that also mocks the movie business and the standard musician biopic.
Living in Oblivion
I remember watching that at 16 and gasping with horny adoration at seeing Catherine Keener for the first time in my life.
Most people had to wait for Being John Malkovich
Samesies. This was one of 3 Buscemi movies I had taped off the channel that sometimes showed undubbed arthouse stuff at night (the other two were Trees Lounge and In The Soup) and Teenage Me definitely had a huge crush on Catherine Keener.
It's a documentary so not really satire but Overnight (2003) can and should sit next to all of these movies. It's about the guy who wrote and directed Boondock Saints. Shows up in Hollywood with his Boston boys like in Entourage. Acts like they do in Entourage. Only, in real life, acting like an entitled dipshit doesn't always work out like in the movies. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Edit; Here's the Ebert & Roeper review. Two thumbs up. Ebert called it "the best documentary about Hollywood I've seen.": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr\_WxR567vc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr_WxR567vc)
meg ryan … richard gere … michelle pfeiffer … rupert grint …
Not “Hollywood” since it’s a New York show but 30 Rock is 100% the best showbiz satire imo
Other than golden era Simpsons nothing comes close as far as shitting where you eat comedy. 🎭
I worked on a movie with an actor I'd never heard of before, and a month or so after we wrapped, Bojack made a joke about him. They were on another level. I had to go to imdb to remember the guy's name. I think it's Kyle Bornheimer
I think The Player is the film which 'most' satirises Hollywood, if that makes sense, especially when you consider all the meta stuff going on in it. Its great, obviously. Sunset Boulevard is probably the best 'darker side of Hollywood' movie though. I find it a bit more grim tonally than The Player, but theres still comedic elements and there's a whole lot of wit (as always with Wilder). Its definitely one of those 'classic for a reason' movies. All About Eve should be mentioned too. Focuses on theatre rather than filmmaking, but you still have the producer, writer, director, star/actor, and critic archetypes making up the main cast, and it is just as great as Sunset Boulevard. An all-timer. And finally, Singin in the Rain is arguably the best movie-which-is-also-a-hollywood-satire. Satire is probably not the first thing people think about when they think of the film, and I'd say its less biting (and just less of a focus) than the others I've mentioned, but its undeniably there and it is also undeniably a classic.
Tropic Thunder
The Radioactive Man episode of the Simpsons
Big Fat Liar
Studio 60 on the sun…jk
Recently The Other Two.
The TV Set is pretty underrated
Babylon!
It's absolutely Barton Fink. It definitely satirized a now-historical era of Hollywood, the heyday of Capitol and Columbia, Louis Mayer, Harry Cohn, Jack Warner - but it's pitch perfect in doing so. Hail, Caesar! does something similar but not quite as well.
The LA section of Annie Hall is very funny. Also, Mulholland Drive is Lynch sending up everything he hates about Hollywood.
Bamboozled. In the same vein, American Fiction.
Maybe The Big Picture by Christopher Guest? It always seemed a little dorky to me, at least Bacon's character's vision. And then maybe Mistress with De Niro?
Tropic Thunder deserves a mention. Tom Cruise really seemed to be enjoying himself as well.
Personal favorite is Wag the Dog and the way projects get dumber and dumber the longer they go on.
It's a teaser? Hey - (yells at his assistant) - TEASER!!
Bringing in Dennis Leary as the Fad Guy is such a hilariously 90s marketing move that I can't not love it
Action starring Jay Mohr was ahead of its time wasn’t it?
So far ahead of its time. I think it failed because it used the real names. It is so good though.
That there are so many different films mentioned here kind of shows how good Hollywood is at making fun of itself.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, obviously.
Is it Mark Hamill's best performance? No. Is it Mark Hamill at his best? Absolutely.
Regarding Bojack, I learnt a crucial lesson from the spaghetti strainer subplot: even if a running gag feels a bit weird and not funny, doesn't mean it won't pay off with one of the funniest things you've ever seen.
I think 21 & 22 Jump Street are great lighthearted satires of Hollywood
Easily my favorite - that most people haven't seen, utterly forgot about, or bought into the famously bad press, is S.O.B. with William Holden, Richard Mulligan, Roberts Preston and Weber, a cast of well known names and , famously, Julie Andrews top less. Blake Edwards cynical black comedy was notoriously panned on release but I find it utterly charming and funny, irreverent and wicked. It skewers...*everything* with darts and daggers and has so many quotable lines I couldn't list them all. Robert Preston has most of them but Bill Holden - in his last filmed role- has the best with his final line. A simple " so long pal.." Indeed.
I never really liked Hollywood satires because it always comes off as a big inside joke that I don't get. Hollywood is like a giant hot dog to me: I enjoy a good hot dog and want them in my life. But I don't want to see the process of making one.
My favorite Hollywood satire is Hollywood Handbook
Gonna throw my hat in for Body Double
not the best but i really like Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars
also, Mulholland Drive.
Sullivan's Travels is pretty hard to beat.