Zeroville

It's 1969. Cinephile Ike Jerome (James Franco) arrives in L.A. He has a tattoo of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor on the back of his shaved head. A Place in the Sun is his favorite movie. He befriends a film editor and becomes one himself. He falls for film star Soledad (Megan Fox) and starts working on her movie. Self-important producer Rondell (Will Ferrell) is a bully.

Before using a single frame of film, James Franco needs to figure out what kind of movie he's making. This starts with Franco playing a serial killer. Ferrell seems intent on making a comedy. Megan Fox is doing a tragedy. Everybody is doing something a little different. It's messy and disjointed. It has a surreal feel but in an amateur way. Filmmaker Franco leaves a lot to be desired. Eventually, he arrives in a place where he's trying to be an arthouse surreal director. It may be pretentious but at least, it's something concrete. Franco should keep trying but he's nowhere near good enough to make something like this work.