Pauly Shore Is Dead
Directed by: Pauly Shore
Written by: Pauly Shore and Kirk Fox
Starring: Pauly Shore, Kirk Fox, Tom Sizemore, Todd Bridges, Carrot Top

So you thought Pauly Shore had dropped off the face of the Earth huh? Well, unfortunately, no. After the failure of his sitcom “Pauly” in 1997 he continued to try and find show biz work, with little success. He must have been puzzled as to why the public suddenly stopped finding him funny… after all, Bio-Dome was pure comedic gold. But now in the year 2005, after a long silence The Weasel has returned with his writing and directorial debut, the direct-to-DVD dud, “Pauly Shore Is Dead”.

I certainly won’t call it a comeback, but I have to admit, the premise for this movie was enticing and somewhat clever. What better way to redeem yourself than with an entire movie of self-deprecation and mockery? I just couldn’t resist a movie about Pauly Shore faking his own death, and with Pauly calling in favours all across Hollywood, the list of cameos in this film is pretty impressive too. But there’s only one problem… Pauly Shore is in it.

The movie starts off innocuously enough with a Pauly sitting in Charlie Sheen’s trailer drinking booze out of a brown paper bag and whining about how he can’t get any acting gigs. While it’s funny seeing Sheen trade quips with him about bad movies they’ve been in, Shore’s onscreen presence begins to grate on your nerves almost immediately. The film is also narrated by Pauly, and towards the beginning we are given a brief autobiographical-style documentary of his triumphs in the entertainment industry. I almost wonder if it would be more interesting to watch an A&E biography on the guy instead.

Once the story actually kicks in, we see Pauly on a downward spiral. He is masturbating to porn and paying for hookers, and eventually loses his house to Carrot Top which forces him to move back home with his mom. Is this anything anyone should really want to see? It’s not funny, it’s just sad. Pauly Shore decides that in order to get recognition as a comedy genius, he should fake his own death. At first, this plan works wonders for him, with the media buzzing about the loss of a great actor. But then he gets spotted in public and it all comes crashing down. He ends up in jail with born-again cellmate Todd Bridges.

Shot on digital video, the movie resembles a reality TV show in some ways. There is little story holding it together, and next to no real jokes. One of the worst running gags has to do with Pauly learning to talk gangsta in prison and constantly spouting “My nig-ga!” in his annoying hippie intonation.

Truly, the only reason to watch this movie is for all the cameo appearances. Where else can you see Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Bill Maher, Fred Durst, Chris Rock, Sean Penn, Carrot Top, Jason Mewes, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Heidi Fleiss, Andy Dick, Snoop Dogg and many more celebrities put the screws to Pauly Shore? Nowhere. But the thing that quickly becomes evident is that all of the insults and trash talking are precisely on the mark. Self-deprecating humour only works if you can get the audience to laugh with you. In this case, we are all laughing at him.

Towards the end, the movie gets all serious too, with an uplifting moral about Pauly learning to be himself instead of “The Weasel” and a closing dedication from Pauly to all of his fans and supporters around the world. Yuck.

Don’t be fooled. Pauly Shore Is Dead may be a tempting rental but in the last 5 years or so you’ve probably forgotten just how irritating Pauly Shore really is. He should never have had a movie career to begin with, and by now he’s probably gotten way more than he deserved out of life. By watching this movie you are inadvertently supporting The Weasel, and is that something you really want to do? I didn’t think so. — Sean