Pauly Shore Is Dead

Last updated
Pauly Shore Is Dead
Pauly Shore Is Dead film.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Pauly Shore
Written by Kirk Fox
Pauly Shore
Produced byPauly Shore
StarringPauly Shore
Ashley L. Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Camille Anderson
Adam Sandler
Eminem
Charlie Sheen
Ben Stiller
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • January 2003 (2003-01)(Slamdunk Film Festival)
  • October 4, 2004 (2004-10-04)(United States)
Running time
82 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Box office$11,000 [1]

Pauly Shore Is Dead is a 2003 American mockumentary comedy film directed, produced, co-written by, and starring Pauly Shore. The film is depicted as a semi-autobiographical retelling of Shore's early success and dwindling popularity in the late 1990s, after which it documents Shore's (fictional) attempt to fake his own death in order to drum up popularity for his films. It features many cameos.

Contents

Plot

The film begins as an autobiographical look at Shore's early professional successes on MTV and as the star of a series of '90s comedies. Shore's film career leads to his taking a starring role in a vehicle on the Fox Network, in which he plays the slacker son of a millionaire. The pilot of the series turns out to be a commercial and critical failure, and Shore becomes a pariah virtually overnight, with his friends distancing themselves from him for fear that it will tarnish their own careers. Shore is ultimately reduced to living in his mother's attic and watching BackDoor Sluts 9 starring his ex-girlfriend, who will no longer see him. He spends his last $84 on a hooker—who does almost nothing for him and his life simply gets worse and worse.

One night, Shore is visited by the ghost of his mentor, comic Sam Kinison, who encourages Shore to fake his own death as a means of revitalizing popularity in Pauly Shore films and merchandise. Shore decides to go through with the plan, which initially works: Once word of his "death" breaks, celebrities eager for the residual publicity begin appearing on television in large numbers to declare Shore a comic genius and lament his early death. Shore, eager to bask in the publicity, begins appearing in public wearing a disguise; he is quickly outed, arrested, and sent to prison.

In prison, Shore is attacked by one of his former fans, "Bucky from Kentucky," a redneck whose world view was shattered when he learned that Shore had willingly put his own fans through the ordeal of thinking he was dead. Shore survives the attack, which causes him to realize that even though he was no longer as famous as he once was, he still had fans who loved him. Shore and Bucky have a heart-to-heart about the nature of celebrity, and Shore decides to start his career over.

After getting out of prison, Shore sets about making Pauly Shore Is Dead to chronicle his own rise and fall, using information he has gathered from years in Hollywood to blackmail various B-list celebrities into appearing in cameos; he reserves the information he has on A-list celebrities for the planned sequel.

Cast

As Themselves

Reception

Pauly Shore Is Dead received mixed reviews, with a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a notably higher rating than his oft-panned '90s films. It was a box office bomb, however, earning just $11,000 after a very limited release to theaters in Sacramento, California. [1] It won the Audience Choice Award from the Slamdunk Film Festival (for Shore's direction).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celebrity</span> Fame in mass media

Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to people who are famous. A person may attain celebrity status by having great wealth, participation in sports or the entertainment industry, their position as a political figure, or even from their connection to another celebrity. 'Celebrity' usually implies a favorable public image, as opposed to the neutrals 'famous' or 'notable', or the negatives 'infamous' and 'notorious'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Reeves</span> American actor (1914–1959)

George Reeves was an American actor. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman (1952–1958).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameo appearance</span> Brief appearance in performing art

A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo, is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by celebrities, film directors, politicians, athletes or musicians are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as director Alfred Hitchcock who made frequent cameo appearances in his films.

<i>The Black Dahlia</i> (novel) 1987 novel by James Ellroy

The Black Dahlia (1987) is a crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. Its subject is the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles, California, which received wide attention because her corpse was horrifically mutilated and discarded in an empty residential lot. The investigation ultimately led to a broad police corruption scandal. While rooted in the facts of the Short murder and featuring many real-life people, places and events, Ellroy's novel blends facts and fiction, most notably in providing a solution to the crime when in reality it has never been solved. James Ellroy dedicated The Black Dahlia, "To Geneva Hilliker Ellroy 1915-1958 Mother: Twenty-nine Years Later, This Valediction in Blood." The epigraph for The Black Dahlia is "Now I fold you down, my drunkard, my navigator, My first lost keeper, to love and look at later. -Anne Sexton."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Conaway</span> American actor (1950–2011)

Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway was an American actor. He portrayed Kenickie in the film Grease and had roles in two television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in Taxi and security officer Zack Allan on Babylon 5. Conaway was featured in the first and second seasons of the reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Kinison</span> American comedian (1953–1992)

Samuel Burl Kinison was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream, similar to charismatic preachers. Initially performing for free, Kinison became a regular fixture at The Comedy Store where he met and eventually befriended such comics as Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. Kinison's comedy was crass observational humor, especially towards women and dating, and his popularity grew quickly, earning him appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. At the peak of his career in early 1992, he was killed in a car crash, aged 38.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Fuller</span> American screenwriter, novelist and director (1912–1997)

Samuel Michael "Sam" Fuller was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, actor, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made outside the conventional studio system. Fuller wrote his first screenplay for Hats Off in 1936, and made his directorial debut with the Western I Shot Jesse James (1949). He would continue to direct several other Westerns and war thrillers throughout the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pauly Shore</span> American comedian and actor (born 1968)

Paul Montgomery "Pauly" Shore is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his roles in 1990s comedy films. Shore began as a stand-up comedian at the age of 17, before becoming an MTV VJ in 1989. This led to a starring role in the comedy film Encino Man in 1992, which was a modest hit. He followed this with leading man vehicles, including Son in Law (1993) and Bio-Dome (1996). Shore provided the voice of Robert "Bobby" Zimuruski in A Goofy Movie and its direct-to-video sequel, An Extremely Goofy Movie.

<i>Encino Man</i> 1992 film by Les Mayfield

Encino Man is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Les Mayfield in his directorial debut. The film stars Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, Mariette Hartley, Richard Masur, and Pauly Shore with supporting roles by Megan Ward, Robin Tunney, Michael DeLuise, and Ke Huy Quan. In the film, two teenagers discover and thaw a frozen caveman, who has to adjust to 20th-century society while teaching them life lessons of his own.

Atuk is the name of an unfilmed American screenplay, intended to be a film adaptation based upon the 1963 novel The Incomparable Atuk, by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. It is essentially a fish out of water comedy of a proud, mighty Inuit hunter trying to adapt to life in the big city with satirical elements on racism, materialism, and popular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perez Hilton</span> American blogger (born 1978)

Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid photos over which he has added his own captions or "doodles". His blog has garnered controversy for its attitude, its former practice of outing alleged closeted celebrities, and its role in the increasing coverage of celebrities in all forms of media.

<i>Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!</i> 1989 film by Jean-Claude Lord

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! is the 1989 sequel to the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers. It is directed by Jean-Claude Lord, and based on literary characters created by author P. F. Kluge. Michael Paré and Matthew Laurance reprise their roles as Eddie Wilson and Sal Amato, respectively. The film was marketed with the tagline "The legend. The music. The man."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitzi Shore</span> American comedy club owner

Mitzi Shore was an American comedy club owner. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 and she became its owner two years later. Through the club, she had a huge influence on the careers of up-and-coming comedians for many decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pauly D</span> American DJ and television personality

Paul Michael DelVecchio Jr., known as Pauly D and DJ Pauly D, is an American television personality and DJ. He is best known for being a cast member of MTV's reality show Jersey Shore.

<i>Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star</i> 2011 film by Tom Brady

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is a 2011 American black comedy film directed by Tom Brady, written by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, and Nick Swardson, and produced by Sandler, Swardson, Covert, Jack Giarraputo, and David S. Dorfman. Starring Swardson, Christina Ricci, Edward Herrmann, Kevin Nealon, Don Johnson, and Stephen Dorff, it tells the story of a man-child whose reserved parents were famous porn stars and plans to follow in their footsteps.

<i>Casino Raiders II</i> 1991 Hong Kong film

Casino Raiders II is a 1991 Hong Kong action drama film directed by Johnnie To and starring Andy Lau, Dave Wong, Jacklyn Wu and Monica Chan. Despite the title, the film is the third installment in the Casino Raiders film series, following Casino Raiders (1989) and No Risk, No Gain (1990). The films in the series are unrelated in plot and merely share the same principal actor of Lau.

<i>Cousins</i> (2014 film) 2014 Indian film

Cousins is a 2014 Indian Malayalam language romantic comedy film directed by Vysakh and scripted by Sethu. The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Indrajith Sukumaran, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Joju George in the title roles. Vedhika and Nisha Aggarwal play the female leads, while Pradeep Rawat, Kalabhavan Shajon, Kailash, Miya George, Shiju and Renji Panicker feature in supporting roles in the film. The story revolves around four cousins who undertake a journey with an intention, and followed by the issues they come across in between them. The film released on 19 December 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucky Barnes</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally introduced as a sidekick to Captain America, the character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Captain America Comics #1. Barnes' original costume and the Bucky nickname have been used by other heroes in the Marvel Universe over the years.

Craig Gass is an American actor, comedian and impressionist best known for his roles in King of Queens, Family Guy, American Dad, Sex and The City, and for auditioning as Jackie Martling 's replacement on The Howard Stern Show coming in second place losing to Artie Lange. Craig is also known for his comedy special Craig Gass: The Worst Comedy Show Ever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stucky (fandom)</span> Depictions of a relationship between Captain America and the Winter Soldier

In fandom, Stucky is the pairing of Steve Rogers and James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, fictional characters who appear in comic books and related media produced by Marvel Comics. The pairing is a manifestation of shipping, a phenomenon in fandom wherein individuals create fan works that depict a romantic or sexual relationship between two characters whose relationship in the source material is typically neither romantic nor sexual; Stucky is an example of slash, a genre of fan works that focus on same-sex characters. In accordance with shipping naming conventions, Stucky is a portmanteau of "Steve" and "Bucky".

References

  1. 1 2 "Pauly Shore is Dead". Box Office Mojo.