Pitch

This "reel-life" documentary centers on tyro Canadian feature screenwriters Spencer Rice and Kenny Hotz and their script The Dawn, a high concept comedy in which a mafia godfather goes into the hospital for a routine hernia operation--and ends up with a sex change instead. But so far no one in the industry will even return their calls, let alone read their script, so the two decide to become "icebacks" (their term, not mine), grabbing their video cameras and leaving their chilly Canuck burg for the (hopefully) bright lights of L.A. There they meet and greet some of the elite--Roger Ebert, Eric Stoltz, Illeana Douglas, Arthur Hiller, Neil Simon--though more often they find themselves on the wrong side of unamused insiders. In the interest of fairness I must disclose that I am currently in the midst of marketing my own screenplay, and thus I found Pitch a very entertaining and, for the most part, accurate representation of the difficulties of breaking into Hollywood. I suspect, however, as my viewing partner would attest, that without such vested interests, general viewers may find the pair's shamelessly self-promoting chutzpah as grating as do their cornered victims. Nevertheless, the sell-through priced Pitch, if only as a primer on how not to get your movie made, is a recommended purchase. [Important note: On the DVD, the front and rear channels of the sound mix have been inadvertently swapped, which surround sound enthusiasts will find rather distracting.] (S.C. Sickles)