An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn ★½ Burn, Hollywood, Burn 1997 (R)

Follows a British director (Idle), whose given name is Alan Smithee, as he kidnaps the reels of his own picture when he realizes he hates the movie but can't remove his name from it since the Directors Guild of America's official pseudonym for disputed films is “Alan Smithee.” O'Neal stars as the boorish producer who drives Smithee to the desperate act. This extended in-joke ran into its own problem when director Arthur Hiller, in what seemed like a publicity stunt, repudiated the version producer/writer Eszterhas recut and had his own name removed from the film, thus making “An Alan Smithee Film” one of the more than 30 Alan Smithee films in as many years. The tedious mockumentary style is relentless in narrating the story to the audience, who is never allowed to just watch what happens. Only interest is the parade of star cameos, including Stallone, Goldberg, and Chan (as themselves), along with writer Eszterhas in a scene with the director who declined credit for the film, Hiller. 86m/C VHS, DVD . Eric Idle, Ryan O'Neal, Coolio, Richard Jeni, Sandra Bernhard, Cherie Lunghi, Harvey Weinstein, M.C. Lyte, Stephen Tobolowsky, Chuck D, Leslie Stefanson, Gavin Polone, Marcello Thedford, Nicole Nagel, Dina Spybey; Cameos: Joe Eszterhas, Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Chan, Larry King, Billy Bob Thornton, Dominick Dunne, Robert Evans, Shane Black; D: Arthur Hiller; W: Joe Eszterhas; C: Reynaldo Villalobos; M: Gary G-Wiz. Golden Raspberries '98: Worst Picture, Worst Support. Actor (Eszterhas), Worst Screenplay, Worst Song (“I Wanna Be Mike Ovitz!”), Worst New Star (Eszterhas).