A documentary that examines the relationship between celebrity and society.
Adrian Grenier turns his fascination about a 14-year-old paparazzo, Austin Visschedyk, into a documentary following Austin as he tries to succeed as a boy in a mans game. He also delves into society's infatuation with celebrities.
Adrian is shunned at first from the paparazzi at first, as they think he is using Austin to make a documentary that shows them in a bad light, but they slowly start to allow him into their world. The life of a paparazzi is like living in another world. Some are hired by a company to stay outside of someone's neighborhood all day long, just waiting to see if that celebrity is going to come out. You can't leave to eat or go to the bathroom for fear that you may miss your one shot.
Austin has become famous with celebrities because most of them are surprised to see a small boy trying to take their picture and some even let him get the pictures that others cannot get. At the same time he has to deal with the mob of paparazzi, grown men, pushing and shoving trying to get the picture, when he is only half as tall as most of them.
The documentary is a great social commentary on our obsession with celebrities. People want to live like celebrities, but since most of us will never be movie stars or professional athletes, we have to live out our dreams through these people. That is why we care with Brad and Angelina are together or not, or what Britney was wearing the other day, its an escape from our own reality. That need fuels our urge to buy these magazines and watch TMZ, thus making a high demand "The Photo or Video Clip".
A lot of paparazzi get a bad rap for what they do, but in all honesty they are just doing a job that pays good, trying to support their own families. One of the great points of the movie is that celebrities can't complain that they are having their picture taken out on the street all the time, as soon as they hired a publicist they wanted to have their name out there. If it weren't for these magazines a lot of them would lose their celebrity status and the perks that come with that.
This documentary was very entertaining and makes you really think about our addiction to celebrities, especially since we all know that one person that always has the latest US Weekly or can't miss an episode of TMZ.
When to Watch Rating: Makes You Think
Now Playing on HBO
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