Save your money for something good and enjoyable

How sad is this?

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Remember that time when everyone thought that Joaquin Phoenix went AWOL from acting and became a rapper? Remember when everyone thought he went nuts because of his bizarre appearance on Letterman? Well, it was all a set up for a mockumentary... and it's one of the worst ones of all time. This is a pretentious, garbled, unfunny mess. The fiction is far less entertaining than what we thought was reality. He thought he was the next Andy Kaufman, as did many. But by the section of the film that featured the Letterman interview, I only wished that Jerry Lawler came out on to the stage and smacked Joaquin off of his chair. I'm a lover of all kinds of cinema, but I can't stand the self aggrandizement of the Hollywood celebrity. Some of these people just live in total fantasy.

As I imagine the filmmakers banging out ideas on how to make this movie about the film industry (something I'm sure they thought would be awe-inspiring), I am reminded of Pauline Kael's statement "Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them." I hold to my firm belief that films about the people actually making the film are both maddening (like performing brain surgery on one's self) and utterly, and completely uninspiring, unless (and this is a big unless) the subject is so captivating by some great deed (like curing cancer, or discovering a solution to world hunger), that you are compelled to follow them.Joaquin Phoenix, born Rafael Bottom, an American actor has little of the charisma that would engender mass attention as someone who could not pose behind scripted text. As evidenced in I'm Still Here, the actor has moments contemplating vapid life questions such as fly's batting of their wings to communicate (this is during supposed long periods of drug use), and the banality of movie-making.I'm Still Here is said to be a documentary-style film of a character Joaquin Phoenix experiencing a nervous breakdown upon deciding to retire from acting to move into music as a Hip Hop singer songwriter, and documented by actor and brother-in-law Casey Affleck. The film juggles many ideas about art and the responsibility of celebrity and how these coalesce to motivate individual personality. Why the filmmakers chose to include Hip Hop says a lot about the biased attitude of the white ruling class that governs the film industry in Hollywood.The success of I'm Still Here, and other films like it, proves that the viewing public loves controversial subjects, especially when it involves the reputations of celebrities. Americans have a deep-seated reverence of movie stars, sports stars, and others in the lime light and when they can be seen doing crazy things, it's good for TV and News ratings. I'm Still Here at some levels addresses this theme, but does so in such an oblique way, the whole point may be lost on the average viewer.The ultimate question is why the filmmakers Joaquin Phoenix, and Casey Affleck made this thing in the first place. As much of the footage shows, live performances with Phoenix singing, and appearing on talk shows have him immersed in a mood so deeply that he appears completely believable, so much so that in many cases he later made apologies for carrying the role so far. As for Affleck, if this is an example of what his filmmaking career is to give us, it's just more evidence that reaffirms the mythos of Hollywood as a place to look beneath the fake tinsel to find the real tinsel.It's too long for a movie of its type. Ostensibly a documentary, it goes on for 106 minutes, and never establishes clearly what it is a movie about, other than an opportunity for its central character to rant, and do shocking things on screen. It feels like a waste of time to me.

The fact that this is a fake documentary makes it even worse.Why do we need this waste of celluloid to prove that actors (and other celebs for that matter) can be whining, self-absorbed diva's without any grasp on reality? We already knew that, didn't we? So there you have it; Joaquin crying about fame. Joaquin crying about being misunderstood. Joacquin crying about not being taken seriously. Joacquin crying about people not appreciating his musical talent. Joacquin crying about talk show hosts making fun of his scruffy appearance. And this goes on and on and on.I could be missing the point (or the punchline?). It could be satire and Joaquin is trying to tell us that celebrities should NOT act this way. But then again, he could have just said so and point out any episode of "Keeping up with the Kardasians". So whether Joaquin is playing himself or some made up character, this flick is a tedious bit of rubbish....

It's easy to be naughty--but to be naughty intentionally, without style or wit or grace or insight into the human condition, well, it's grindingly dull, not unlike watching the class clown repeat the same of gag which might have been funny once, but becomes silly and stupid and you hate yourself for watching. If, in the mold of Sasha Baron Cohen it's a put-on, it fails entertainment value. If its not a put-on, why should we take any pleasure in watching some poor inarticulate sap self-destruct? And if it is a satire of some sort, watching Joaquin Phoenix mumble and shuffle and swear and go in and out of focus is neither edifying nor entertaining. Its very rare I find a film devoid of merit, and while this strange creation was probably a good deal of fun for Phoenix and Casey Affleck, they fail to bring much to the party other than stoner attitudes. If you have nothing better to do, watch Phoenix in the Johnny Cash film again, or Affleck in the excellent Jesse James film, in which his performance digs deeply. I'm still here? Begone! Lifes too short for this one