Movies

Producer Mel Gibson's holy payback for years of photojournalist harassment, this cookie-cutter Cape Fear knockoff centers on Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser), a benign, decaf-favoring action star so new to L.A. he still drives with Montana plates. Bo is shocked that paparazzi will stop at nothing to get a good shot—they rummage through his garbage, tap his cell phone, and even install nifty 007 spycams in his lighting fixtures. "We are the last hunters," expounds one of the scuzzier members of the team (Daniel Baldwin)—but of course, it's time for the hunters to become the hunted. When Rex Harper (Tom Sizemore) and his crew aren't held accountable for getting Bo's family into a car accident—or for taking pictures at the scene of the crime—faster than you can say, "Princess Di," Laramie is out for frontier-style vengeance. Paparazzi, the directorial debut of longtime Hollywood hair stylist Paul Abascal, is an egregiously self-serving slice of celebrity worship. Functioning primarily as a platform for cameos (Vince Vaughn, Chris Rock, and Mad Max himself), the movie won't do any good for anyone except for rising star Hauser, who—it can safely be assumed—will not be hounded by paparazzi yet.