Stardom

The rise-and-fall of a fictional supermodel is the topic of this irritatingly over-conceptualized yet blandly under-realized documentary-style satire-drama. Narrated to death by a parade of invariably obnoxious hairdressers, photographers, agents, talk show hosts and VJs (with a supporting cast including Dan Aykroyd and Frank Langella), it's the story of an 18-year-old knockout brunette (newcomer Jessica Paré), who's whisked into a pampered, jet-setting lifestyle, becoming little more than an ornament in the process. Half mockumentary and half insincere, tsk-tsk condemnation of beauty as a commodity, the picture's ripe idea is spoiled by its own self-satisfaction and made worthless by the fact that the girl at its axis is wildly uninteresting. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)