Memorable, crazy movie

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

... and it has remained one of my favorite films of all time. It is an story of naivety exploited, and ambition exploded. A cautionary tale about holding to your ideals.As Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 91% overall and 100% from the Top Critics, I feel vindicated. At the time, it was noted in the press that the irony of a movie condemning the machinations of the movie biz, was not able to get a real theatrical release.Enjoy the Big Picture. Martin Short is phenomenal as the agent from hell.

Film school grad Nick Chapman (Kevin Bacon) thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.Greenlit by David Puttnam of Columbia Pictures, the president was ousted two weeks after production began, and the subsequent regime at the studio, according to Guest, were unable to figure out what could be done with the film as many executives at the studio didn't like the film because they felt like they were being brutally satirized in it. Columbia quietly gave The Big Picture a limited theatrical release (despite opening to positive reviews) before sending it to video.With all the names attached o this film, the clever writing and positive message, it is amazing this one slipped under the radar. It might satirize Hollywood, but by no means do I feel it insults it or calls out anyone in particular (though, who knows what the writer had in mind).I especially enjoyed the role played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She may be one of the best actresses of modern times, no one seems to recognize it. Between "Fast Times" (1982) and "Hateful Eight" (2015), no one seems to have noticed her. And why not? She was dynamite in so many things, and this film is the evidence.

This is a strange movie about a young film student, Nick Chambers (Kevin Bacon), who wins an award and is picked up by a producer Alan Hale. Nick has some good friends and a loving girlfriend and a great idea for a simple movie. He is also very innocent and naive and basically is chewed up by the Hollywood machine and spat out.The movie reveals how the Hollywood dream is not that great, and it is only through luck that Nick actually makes it. In the film there is another guy who did not win a trophy but he seemed to have made it big. Nick believes that he has made it as well, and quickly leaves his old friends for his new ones. It also seems that Alan is prying Nick away from his friends and setting him up with Hollywood friends, such as the actress Gertrude.Suddenly Alan Hale is axed and all of his projects are canceled. Nick finds that he is now untouchable and left in the streets with not money and no friends. He slowly watches how everything is taken away from him and reminded out how big a dream he really had. His former landlord claims that he was a director that was spat out, as if making it harbringer of things to come, and then reminded when he is applying for a job as a waiter, that everybody wants to make it big in Hollywood.It is only fortune, and a bit of vision, that brings Nick back. He runs into an old school college that introduces him to a band that wants to make a video, and he does. At that time he is trying to rebuild his relationships. It is interesting to see how pessimistic Nick is because he is always expecting the worse and getting the best. His ex-girlfriend threw him out yet when he came to her again she welcomed him, and even visited him again. His old Camera-man friend whom he had let down, was still welcoming to him and said, "I was always your friend." This contrasted the people he had met at Hollywood, who were his friends when he was big, and dumped him when he had lost it all.This movie is good, and has a fantasy feel to it. The cinematography creates a more dreamlike world, but it is a dream where the good becomes bad and is only restored through some fortuitous move. What this movie shows me though is who one's friends really are. His true friends remained his friends while his Hollywood friends only spoke to him when they wanted something.

Before he perfected and honed his satirical style, Christopher Guest gave us "The Big Picture." It was his first real directorial assignment and it demonstrated that he had plenty of talent and a sharp biting sense of humor. For some reason, however, the film never saw the light of day upon its initial release and it's only now being reconsidered and reappraised after twenty years in the video store basement. The plot revolves around Nick Chapman (Kevin Bacon), a recent film school graduate who has won a prestigious award. Hollywood comes calling in the form of major studio producer Allen Habel (a great J.T. Walsh) who has definite ideas about young Chapman's career path and first feature film subject matter, much to the young director's chagrin. All goes well at first and Chapman is soon hyped up as Hollywood's "next great film director," and it goes to his head fast than you can say "cut." Along the way, Chapman sells out his best friend (Michael McKean) and live-in lover (Emily Longstreth) and practically everyone else. He flips over beautiful Gretchen (Teri Hatcher in goddess mode) but he soon discovers that he's not even in her top ten list. His fall from grace is brutal and fast and his comeuppance is as well-deserved as his subsequent redemption is hard-earned. A succession of menial jobs to help pay his rent brings the luckless Mr. Chapman down to earth quickly. The scenes of poor Nick working as a telemarketer on the late shift are priceless.If there's a problem with "The Big Picture," it's that the film varies wildly between seriousness and light comedy (literally from scene to scene) and from reality to fantasy (kind of like Hollywood itself). It certainly hits its marks when revealing the shallowness of the system and the phonies who inhabit the big offices as they make their nonsensical decisions. Unfortunately, there's a lot of insider jokes that many viewers won't understand or merely just shrug off. Martin Short (unbilled) is the best of the supporting cast as Chapman's effeminate and bumbling agent; he couldn't close a deal if it landed in his lap. Other notable actors (John Cleese, June Lockhart, Eddie Albert, to name a few) make cameo appearances and have fun livening up the atmosphere. One point director Guest does makes crystal clear, however. No one in Hollywood has a clue as to what kind of movie will be a hit with the general public. It's always been a guessing game and nothing more. In the end "The Big Picture" will probably be best remembered as Mr. Guest's first feature film and a prelude for better things to come. For true film buffs, it'll also remind them of the talent of Emily Longstreth. Her sudden disappearance from the film industry has been much-discussed and remains a total mystery.