Just when it seemed there might never be another Pauly Shore movie, Shore ponied up his own pennies for an overextended joke about the sorry state of his career. He also wrote and directed and, needless to say, he's also the star. Who else could convincingly play a comedic shooting star typecast as the Weasel, an irritating stoner in hot pants and a Hendrix headscarf who makes weird sucking sounds? Who else would want to? Shore's mockumentary opens with the shocking revelation that the former MTV personality has had trouble finding work since Fox cancelled his sitcom, Pauly, the day after airing the pilot. After a long dark night of the soul during which he realizes he'll be forever pigeonholed as the Weasel, Pauly decides to end it all. The following morning, on what must have been the slowest news day in the history of broadcast journalism, the airwaves are full of the fallen star's suicide. How could things have come to such a tragic pass? Through a series of flashbacks, we see Pauly riding high at the prospect of Pauly's success, only to see those hopes dashed. When Pauly goes groveling back to MTV, they throw him through a plate-glass window. Pauly can't even afford the hookers with whom he used to party, and when his accountant tells him that he'll have to sell his sleek bachelor pad, he suffers the biggest indignity in a less-than-dignified career: Carrot Top buys it out from under him. Forced to move back home with his mother, Mitzi, and reduced to parking cars at her famed stand-up club, The Comedy Store, Pauly grows increasingly desperate. Egged on by the ghost of his old friend and baby sitter Sam Kinison, Pauly decides to call it quits. Or does he? Turns out the whole suicide thing was a hoax designed to stir up sympathy and afford Pauly an opportunity to reinvent himself. Underlying this Hollywood parable is the sincere belief that Shore is capable of something other than his Weasel act: portraying a washed-up one-trick pony with limited talent. Is there a difference? The film contains a few funny bits, and the roster of stars who appear as themselves is astounding. But Shore's contempt extends well beyond himself to tar his fans and just about anyone who might be in the audience; the film's gay stereotypes are probably the most repellent, but its Latino cliches run a close second. --Ken Fox
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