AUTO FOCUS

COLUMBIA TRISTAR

RELEASED 7 March 2003

Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) played the star of the American television series Hogan’s Heroes in the 60s, coming from a steady but unsatisfying career as a radio DJ. Thrust into the spotlight due to the show’s success, married Crane’s sexual appetite was given free reign with a succession of groupies, aided by salesman John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), who was selling the very first home videos to the rich and famous. As time goes on, the twosome begin to realise they can make money from shooting sex films and get ‘personally’ involved. At the same time, Crane is unaware that his life is crumbling around his ears, his marriages dissolving and his reputation disappearing fast. Sex films and Disney films don’t really make good bedfellows as Crane discovers when he deperately tries to get a part in the latest Disney comedy. What starts out as a happy family life in Hollywood descends into a personal sex addiction hell where no-one else matters. There are some good performances from Kinnear and Dafoe and the carefree mood of the 60’s and 70’s is nicely captured, but we’re never really told just why we should care about what happens to these two losers. Crane blows everything good he ever has without even blinking. He never really comes across as particularly intelligent so maybe that was just it. He was stupid. Meanwhile, all Carpenter has is Crane, which makes the suggested ending of the film highly likely. Not a bad film, but fairly predictable and it’s defintely a path we’ve been taken down many a time before.

THREE OUT OF FIVE