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The Surrealistic Reality of being a Movie Star


What a great movie.

What do you know? I like the odd all-action movie; after all, who doesn't? But I sure appreciate the ones that dig a bit deeper, and I never thought I would rave over one featuring, nay, starring JC. After all, weren't they all in his own words, "B-movie, B-movie ... they were all B-movies." Well, something like that, anyway.

At times funny - the antics of les flics, the unconditional fandom of Arthur -, at times semi-realistic, such as the video store guys discussing movies in full Pulp Fiction banter style - but mostly, raw and almost documentary in its showing as Jean-Claude as himself: an old actor, famous and tired of being famous, torn between his agent, his wife and kid, and his ever-demanding fans. And even then, Things Are About to Get Worse.

Be prepared for his gripping monologue at the very heart of the movie - I wasn't, and was quite blown away by it. I'm still wondering: was this Jean-Claude himself baring his soul in the privacy of of just him and the camera, or was it "Jean-Claude as himself", the actor playing the actor, or was it Jean-Claude the actor, doing his utmost best portraying an actor who portrays an actor ... and so on.

An extremely untypical movie for him, JC lovers are bound to hate it, but on the plus side, those who hate his common style all brawn and no brain action flicks will absolutely love it.

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JC lovers are bound to hate it, but on the plus side, those who hate his common style all brawn and no brain action flicks will absolutely love it


Exactly, I generally don't like Van Damme's movies, but this one I liked. But of course, this movie would not have been possible if Van Damme had not made those countless action flicks before. JCVD shows that each type-cast actor can make at least one good movie - about oneself.

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wow no posts in 6 years on this!?

I thought Nic Cage's unbearable parody of this might have caused some interest

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