The Kid Stays in the Picture
The movie industry likes to make a lot of movies about itself. Then again there are a lot of books about writing and a lot of plays about theatre so I guess people just like writing about what they know. This film is not quite as indulgent because it presents it as a documentary instead of retelling or reenactment, and we get the real Robert Evans narrating his story.
My girlfriend, who studied documentary at college and works in the field said that the imagery style of making still photographs look like they are three dimensional as the camera pans by them is an effect that is now referred to as the "kid stays in the picture" effect since this film really brought it to popularity (if not pioneering it, I'm not sure). The effect makes everything a lot more dynamic, but the film doesn't rely on it. The story itself was interesting. That's why the movie was made. It's interesting because Robert Evans is charismatic. And because the movies he produced were actually good.
I had heard Robert Evans's recording of his autobiography being mocked by Mr. Show and Patton Oswald separately and had the impression that the guy was totally wacked out of his mind by years of drug abuse and told the most depraved and strange stories. In this movie at least, he admits to doing drugs but sounds cognizant and sure of his memory throughout. And other than throwing the f-word in at a few awkward and inappropriate times, he doesn't get too depraved in his descriptions.
One of the more enjoyable documentaries about Hollywood personalities to sit through.
Rating: 8/10