Paparazzi (2004)

A rising Hollywood actor decides to take personal revenge against a group of four persistent photographers to make them pay for almost causing a personal tragedy involving his wife and son.

Director:

Paul Abascal

Writer:

Forry Smith (as Forrest Smith)

Stars:

Cole Hauser, Robin Tunney, Dennis Farina

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cole Hauser	...	Bo Laramie
Robin Tunney	...	Abby Laramie
Dennis Farina	...	Detective Burton
Daniel Baldwin	...	Wendell Stokes
Tom Hollander	...	Leonard Clark
Kevin Gage	...	Kevin Rosner
Blake Michael Bryan	...	Zach Laramie (as Blake Bryan)
Tom Sizemore	...	Rex Harper
Andrea Baker	...	Emily
Jordan Baker	...	Dr. Kelley
Joe Basile	...	Police Lab Tech
Lauren Birkell	...	Allison
Wendy Braun	...	Bo's Publicist
Kelly Carlson	...	Kristin
Greg Castro	...	Policeman

Storyline

Bo Laramie is a movie star who has finally achieved success. But success comes at a price, in the form of four persistent photographers known as the paparazzi. Using their dishonest methods of getting the money shot regardless of what it takes, they'll stop at nothing in exploiting Bo for every last penny. But when one of their ventures nearly costs Bo's life and that of his family when they cause a car accident and do nothing afterwords except take photos, Bo has finally reached his breaking point. In doing so, Bo decides to exact a crafty and complex revenge on those four who have enjoyed making his life a living hell with his focus on the paparazzi's ring leader, Rex Harper.

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Plot Keywords:

frame up | revenge | paparazzi | actor | movie star | 

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Taglines:

It's time to settle the score.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, sexual content and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

3 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paparaciai

Filming Locations:

Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,855,111, 5 September 2004, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$15,712,072, 14 November 2004

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox,Icon Entertainment International,Icon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Daniel Baldwin dislocated his knee by sliding on a shag carpet in his fight scene with Robin Tunney. Tom Sizemore twisted his ankle on the same carpet several days later.

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Goofs

On the cover of the Paparazzi magazine, the word "accident" is spelled "accicdent".

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Quotes

[Harper and Stokes just came back from Laramie's house]
Wendell Stokes: So what do we do now?
Rex Harper: [with increasing anger] The whole idea of going IN THERE, Wendell, was to protect ourselves. If we were worried about Laramie coming after us before, we have GUARANTEED it now!
Wendell Stokes: Why don't we go to the police?
Rex Harper: [incensed and angrier] And tell them what? "We broke into his house. YOU *ATTACKED* HIS WIFE! And that WE would like some protection?" You are a moron, Wendell. You are an ABSOLUTE *MORON*!
Wendell Stokes: Hey, what the hell do you ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

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Soundtracks

Going in the Right Direction
Performed by Robert Randolph and The Family Band
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing
Written by Robert Randolph
Published by Happy Fingers Too Publishing (BMI)

User Reviews

Paparazzi Purge

Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) is living "The American Dream". Money, fame, fortune beyond his wildest dreams. But unfortunate for Laramie, fame comes with a price, by the name of the Paparazzi. The persistence of the paparazzi leaves Laramie in the hospital, and his son in a coma. The press will clearly do anything to get the perfect shot. Laramie decides that the only to stop his problems is to take them out one by one.

A team of four relentless paparazzi soon are the ones who become the victims. The ringleader of the gang, Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore) soon realizes that he and his gang are the ones in danger. Wendell Stokes (Daniel Baldwin), Leonard Clark (Tom Hollander) and Kevin Rosner (Kevin Gage) make up the four paparazzi that Laramie is bend on destroying.

One of the highlights of my summer was "Paparazzi". I wanted to see this since I first saw the trailer for it. Looked like a pretty interesting take on the action/thriller genres. The lead roles Cole Hauser and Tom Sizemore are quite impressive. In my opinion, Sizemore owns this movie. While it's not the role he was born to play, I can't see many others playing the role of Harper.

One thing I found interesting is that Mel Gibson along with other producers of Paparazzi were inspired to make this film upon reading articles of paparazzi attacks. Not as serious as the one in the film, but nevertheless.

The film is one of the first of its kind. That I've seen anyways. Exploiting the paparazzi. It just sounds like a fun movie to me. One that I haven't seen before. Paparazzi is other all, a very fun, enjoyable and a very entertaining flick. Check it out. You won't be disappointed. I wasn't.

***/*****