In the Soup
Director: Alexandre Rockwell
Year Released: 1992
Rating: 1.0
Wannabe filmmaker Steve Buscemi is trying to get funding for his super-pretentious 500-page screenplay - so immense not even Rivette would bother - and gets the promise of financial help from a shady crook (Seymour Cassel). The characters are all underwritten - especially Buscemi, a delusional stick figure whose every line of dialogue revolves around the movie he's going to make - and the plot isn't about moviemaking at all, but rather about the self-conscious eccentrics Buscemi meets and dislikes (it reaches its own personal apex of stupidity when a midget and a bear are introduced). Cassel puts in a magical performance, full of charisma (read: bullshit) and conviction, but he's the only thing that's really alive.
