July 29, 2002

The Kid Stays in the Picture
(USA Films) Rated NR
Release Date - July 26, 2002

I feel like the nine millionth person to write about this unique event in documentary history.  There have been first-person documentaries before, but that first person is usually the filmmaker as well.  This film, made by Brett Morgan and Nannette Burstein, the dynamic duo that brought us On The Ropes a couple of years ago, still manages to be a Robert Evans auto-doc.  So much so, that it’s almost not a documentary at all, but more like a novel/film in the vein of Ragtime, combining one man’s fiction and a world of true life characters. 

The downside of the current media blitzkrieg that storms through Hollywood all day, every day, is that we know too much about our best characters.  There are a few great ones left, but there are already reams of print about them and it’s highly unlikely we will ever get the first-person story from Harvey Weinstein, Joel Silver, Scott Rudin, Jon Peters, Chris Pula, etc, etc.   James Toback should do a documentary about himself.  So should Kevin Smith.  Lynda Obst did a great job telling her tale.  David Puttnam has written a few great Hollywood books, but never exposed his own tale to us.  The Brothers Scott have a great story to tell, far more complex than their directing careers… but we’ll never get to read that story either.  Brian Grazer could do his own The Kid Stays in the Picture down the road… but I doubt we’d ever get the really good stuff.  Nonetheless, Grazer is still one of the town’s most fun “serious” interviewees.

The Kid/Evans puts it all out there… well, everything that he wants to talk about.  The movie has the style of the man… garish, beautiful, crude, effete, self-indulgent, self-effacing and perpetually in motion, despite a predominance of stillness. 

I recommend the film unreservedly for anyone who loves movies and the movie business.  It may not be a great document of history, but it is HIS story and as such, is an unmitigated joy.