So, do you remember Pauly Shore? Most of you should. There was time when, lack of talent notwithstanding, he was on top of the world and probably one of the most recognizable ‘celebrity wannabes’ in the world. As the son of Mitzi Shore (who owned the famous Comedy Store club) Pauly wanted nothing more than to be as famous as the people who hung around his house. His mom knew just about everyone in the business, so by proxy… so did he. It wasn’t until he landed a gig on MTV, where he unleashed ’The Weasal’ that “fame, fortune and everything that goes with it” (“I thank you all…”) landed on his doorstep. This persona he created almost defied description, other than to be looked at as the ultimate slacker, without a care in the world. He made strange little animal noises, spoke with a lackadaisical air, and seemed to be perpetually stoned. He became popular enough to end up starring in several relatively popular movies and en eventual sitcom.

But by the time the sitcom came around, his popularity was already beginning to decline as people were tiring of his one-note character. The sitcom bombed… horribly, and this marked the start of a downhill into obscurity. Any attempt to revive his career (as it were) was met with ridicule because of his inability to shake ‘The Weasel.’ (No pun intended…)

The premise of “Pauly Shore is Dead” is an odd one, as it is a semi-autobiographical piece of semi-fiction. The ‘real’ part of the film deals more with his upbringing and self-deprecating look at his ’15 minutes of fame.’ The rest of the film veers off into Shore’s fictional account of the faking of his death and discovery of the hoax, as well as the reaction from Hollywood to both. There’s also an odd side story about ‘The Weasel’s Ultimate Fan’, Bucky (Earl W. Brown) who harkens from the backwoods trailer trash side of the tracks.

After watching “Pauly Shore is Dead” I get the feeling that Pauly has now pulled in every favor he was ever owed by everyone who was anyone in Hollywood. The film is packed with more cameos than a Robert Altman film, both by superstars and has-beens. As it progresses, the film is peppered with all manner of sound bites from these celebrities as they react to the news of his death and resurrection. There is even a bit of a running gag, where the has-beens get to make fun of their own ex-careers. For example singer Gerardo (“Rico Suave”) shows up on the side of the road selling oranges in one fairly humorous scene.

I was never a big fan of Pauly Shore, I guess because while I love stupid humor, I prefer well thought out stupid humor. I only found his movies moderately funny, feeling much the same way as I did for early Adam Sandler films. However, I was intrigued by the idea that spawned this film, and while it doesn’t quite hit on all cylinders, I actually thought it was funnier overall than most of his real movies.

I understand it took Shore 5 years to film his ‘epic’, and it shows. I mentioned before that it doesn’t hit on all cylinders, and what I mean by that is that while it showed real promise at the beginning, as it progresses it loses focus, as well as a lot of its humor. I thought the first half of the film had a lot of inspired humor, especially when it poked fun at the ridiculous nature of fame. Even some of the celebrities did a good job of poking fun at themselves. But once we get into the ‘resurrection’ side of the story, it majorly falls apart. It really seems as if Shore isn’t sure where he wanted to go with it and, like his career, it loses steam as it gets closer to the end.

The DVD release of “Pauly Shore is Dead” serves up a lot more extra features than it really deserves (again, I wonder how many favors were called in…). Shore delivers a deadly boring commentary on the film, while deleted scenes offer little more than a few extra celebrity cameos. These deleted scenes are set up in two sections, one hosted by Shore and Charlie Sheen, the other by Shore and the ‘vapid beyond all reason’ Hilton Sisters. Using these celebrities for the hosting duties did present an interesting dichotomy in that Sheen is a truly talented actor who had suffered his own decline, only to resurrect his career to the highest level it has ever been, while the Hilton Sisters are devoid of anything remotely resembling personality or brains and yet they are considered (by the brain dead) to be A-list celebrities.

There is also a parody of the song “It’s Been Awhile”, where the lyrics have been changed by Shore, and oddly enough still performed by Stain’d’s Aaron Lewis. You’ll also find a short ‘Making of…’ featurette and a Q&A session with Shore that was filmed at Cal State Fullerton. These extra features are introduced by rappers Eminem and Proof in painfully bad little film bits.

“Pauly Shore is Dead” is a film that could have been funnier if Shore had only recognized his own shortcomings. He obviously realized they existed since he made fun of them in the film, so you would have thought he would have gone the extra step and asked for help in actually making the movie.

Directed by: Pauly Shore
Starring: Pauly Shore, Jaime Bergman, Todd Bridges, Rick Ducommun, Earl W. Brown
Extras: Audio Commentary by Pauly Shore, “Interrogating the Wiez” Q&A with Pauly Shore, “Making of…” Featurette, Host Wraps by Eminem and Proof, Deleted Scenes Hosted by Pauly Shore, The Hilton Sisters and Charlie Sheen, Aaron Lewis/Staind Song Parody
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1), Full Screen (1.33:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 1/25/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Pauly Shore is Dead a C-.