The Kid Stays in the Picture
Director: Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 1.5
Accomplished producer and skilled raconteur Robert Evans - responsible for helping to make such movies as The Godfather and Chinatown - tells the story of his life (according to him), starting with being discovered by Norma Shearer, to working as an actor, to becoming head of production at Paramount, to having his career tank because of various scandals (and a problem with cocaine). As gifted a storyteller as he is (and no storyteller is entirely factual, which Mr. Evans would be quick to admit), this is self-satisfied and tacky filmmaking, a cropped version of Evans' very good (if factually questionable) book. Evans' interviews over the years have always been fun and cheeky and wonderfully vulgar, but the PG-13 rating means naughtiness here is at a minimum.
