Steve Buscemi might not be a classic leading-man type, but he nails certain roles like nobody else. A case in point is his top-billed turn in “Delirious,” a fitfully funny satire of pop culture run amok.
Somehow Buscemi looks sleazier than ever, his hair stringier, his eyes hang-doggier. Even his teeth look worse. He plays Les, a New York paparazzi, who lives in a sordid apartment between bouts of haunting the red carpet or staking out celebrities in hopes of catching them in embarrassing moments.
Les becomes a mentor of sorts to Toby (Michael Pitt), a shiftless drifter who shows up one day wanting to learn the ropes. The irony is that Toby has the mysterious (if vapid) star quality required by pop culture, and in a twist unsurprising to anybody who’s seen “All About Eve,” he eventually eclipses his mentor.
Writer-director Tom DiCillo, a reliable indie filmmaker (“Living in Oblivion”), uses this set-up to lambaste a variety of subjects. One is a girl singer (Alison Lohman) who comes straight out of the Spears-Lohan tradition, a talentless idiot with a photogenic quality.
But DiCillo saves his most detailed work for Les. The paparazzi are a worthy target, although with his inane celebrity worship and tendency to accept free meals at junkets, Les also reminded me of a certain kind of entertainment reporter. DiCillo has had plenty of experience with that type over the years.
Michael Pitt, lately seen as Kurt Cobain (or someone exactly like him) in Gus van Sant’s “Last Days,” is amusing enough as Toby. Mostly he just stands around looking dazed, which is pretty much his character. Lohman, a funny actress when she gets a chance to be, it right on the money with her portrait of a dunce.
But it’s Buscemi’s show, and he’s the reason to see the movie. When Les reminiscences about shaking Robert DeNiro’s hand, deluded that he and the celebrity actually shared a moment of understanding, Buscemi lets you see the sad phenomenon of a small person puffing himself up into someone he thinks will matter.
“Delirious” HH
Perfect pap: Steve Buscemi has a tailor-made role as a sleazy paparazzi, and he’s the main reason for seeing this otherwise fitfully funny satire of pop culture. Michael Pitt plays a hanger-on who turns into Buscemi’s assistant, and Alison Lohman does a sharp turn as a talentless singer from the Spears-Lohan mold.
Rated: Not rated; probably R for language, subject matter.
Now showing: Opens today at Varsity
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