The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

The Kid Stays in the Picture: Directed by Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen. With Robert Evans, Eddie Albert, Peter Bart, Charlie Bluhdorn. Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans (the film shares the same name as Evans’s famous 1994 autobiography).

“Robert Evansu0026#39;s book version of this documentary, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is still un-read by me. But I have read much about him from other movie books from the 70u0026#39;s, and so this film does illuminate certain aspects of him that I already knew- his huge ego, his drug addiction, his proclivity to lots and lots of women, and having some part in the more outstanding films of the 1970u0026#39;s. Sometimes with Evans himself narrating throughout two things become apparent as peculiarities that keep it from being great- 1) the filmmakeru0026#39;s style is rather repetitive and, aside from some flourishes of talent, isnu0026#39;t anything too grand for the material, and 2) the three sides to the story that Evans is quoted with at the beginning become rather blurred as one full-on nostalgia (for bad and good) comes out. What makes it captivating, however, is that Evans is the kind of guy who will be honest about being full of crap and will even call on himself for his past troubles. Rarely has one manu0026#39;s achievements gone neck and neck with his flaws, and let out in a filmic, grandiose style such as this.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEvans is shown to have, basically, a lot of luck as someone getting into Hollywood (as many of these stories go). He starts out as a so-so actor and tries desperately to establish himself as a producer. He becomes more apart of the development side of the pictures, and ushers through Rosemaryu0026#39;s Baby, Love Story, and even the Godfather to an extent. As his story includes the personal side (his rise and fall in the relationship to Ali McGraw, the cocaine, the other tabloid stuff), the other side of his professional accomplishments still gears in for room. By the end, one can see that the man has gone through enough to have his rightful reputation as Paramountu0026#39;s longest remaining producer, and will likely hold onto his ego of being the head-cheese kind of u0026#39;creative produceru0026#39; so many directors like or dread till the grave. If anything, the film is actually too short, as at 93 minutes (a brilliant Dustin Hoffman imitation over the credits included) we only get glimpses that are further expounded in the book. Therefore its already subjective viewpoint becomes even more crunched into one all-too-simple story on such an interesting case study.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Kid Stays in the Picture, despite not being as terrific as the filmmakers might think it is by their sleek camera angles and typical interludes of montage, is as close to being as honest as it could be. Honest, in the sense that Evans doesnu0026#39;t hide much in his story and how his own way of speaking about it, in its deep-sounding and straight-forward Hollywood way, is what film buffs look for. He may have been and done a lot of things, but as he says at the end, u0026quot;I enjoy what I do, which most people canu0026#39;t say that they do.u0026quot;”