After watching Wes Anderson interview Robert Evans on PBS (Charlie Rose perhaps)I immediately ran out and bought the Evans' memoirs. I finished "The Kid.." in 2 days (~450 pages)a monumental feat for a slow reader like myself. All I can say is that the book was intriguing, and mesmerizing. For two days I swaggered around as if I was in the Hollywood know. The novel is a simply written guilty pleasure. Although Evans' has never graduated high school he writes better than decently (except for his overuse of some random 'word of the day' vocabulary). Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the paperback and couldn't wait to see the film. The film is certainly no Maysles production. Obviously the film is as autobiographical as the book, so who knows what side of the truth were getting (remember Evans' "three-sides" quip). I would recommend the film to anyone who interested in the Hollywood system, film production, or Evans himself. Although tremendously abridged, the film still has the sharp wit and acrid language that made Evans so famous. I was not a terrible fan of the use of stills and headlines, especially the use of in/out focusing--a poor attempt at three dimensionality. The empty scenes around Evans' mansion were terrible. The worst part of the film is when Evans' himself is moving around his bedroom is some mock triple exposure flashback. Cheese. I would have rather a more traditional 'talking heads' and interviews version. The film only really works because of the story and narration. It's great to get faces to the names--but thats all you really get. This aside the film gets ***1/2 of 5 for the exceptionally open tell-all story.
Review of The Kid Stays in the Picture
