"Bottom's Up" (2006)

Directed By: Eric MacArthur

Starring: Paris Hilton, Jason Mewes, Brian Hallisay, Jon Abrahams, David Keith, & Nicholle Tom

MPAA Rating: "R" (for sexual content, nudity, language and drug use)

Paris Hilton has not had what I would call "a quality run in Hollywood cinema". In fact, she has had about the furthest thing from it. After a brief role in the horror disaster, "Nine Lives", and another role in the mediocre drama, "The Hillz", it seemed as though she was finally getting her career on track with a starring role in the effective slasher flick, "House of Wax" (2005). While she did not give an award-worthy performance, she still held her own and gave audiences what they wanted--a fun chase scene and a gruesome death scene. This is her follow-up to that movie and, unfortunately, she has regressed back into the straight-to-video market with "Bottom's Up". This is an unfulfilling film with painfully-awful direction and no chemistry between the two leading stars: Jason Mewes and Paris Hilton. The plot is thin and barely supports the weak romance that seems to be more a second-thought rather than a main plot line. On the upside, the cast is likable and the jokes, though few and far between, do work, for the most part. Overall, this is a better-than-average straight-to-video film, but it still reeks of predictability and recycling. There is hardly an ounce of originality and the movie really only deserves one watch, preferably on television, if anything at all.

Owen Peadman (Mewes) is a bartender in Minnesota who heads to Hollywood to take part in a bartending competition to raise money for his father's small restaurant. He stays with his flamboyantly gay (and yet in denial) uncle Earl (Keith). When the competition does not work out well for Owen, he takes to working with his uncle at an entertainment television station, as well as working his way into the Hollywood social circle. After a chance-meeting with wealthy socialite, Lisa Mancini (Hilton) and her actor boyfriend, Hayden Field (Hallisay), Owen is pulled into a world of betrayal, bigotry, and seduction--a world that will change him forever and may lead him to the love of his life. But, Hollywood is never a kind place to reside and, for Owen, keeping his head above water may prove to be far more difficult than he originally thought. This plot sounds like it could make for an excellent movie. Unfortunately, it doesn't. "Bottom's Up" only delves into this plot in the most shallow ways, delivering characters that we can't really care about and back stories that are flat and uninteresting.

The performances in "Bottom's Up" have a certain blah feeling about them. They certainly don't stand out and are instantly forgettable. Paris Hilton does what is required of her. She will not be winning an Academy Award any time soon, but she certainly shows that she is molding her acting skill into something more than she showcased in "Nine Lives". Jason Mewes, unfortunately, disappointed me. He could do so much better than this, but it seemed as though he expected the movie to be forgotten so he merely gave a dull performance and collected that paycheck. There is a certain charm about David Keith--a charm usually wasted on horrible horror flicks that wind up on the Sci-Fi channel. Here, he hits the nail on the head. Brian Hallisay does an okay job for his first role in a movie. My biggest question for Jon Abrahams is: why are you even in this movie? Did you just want so desperately to star with Paris Hilton again that you accepted a small, unimportant role in a straight-to-video comedy? What a bad career decision on his part! The rest of the cast fits into that blah feeling I mentioned earlier.

When this movie ended, I had such a distinct feeling of indifference. I didn't like the movie. I didn't dislike the movie. I just didn't care either way. Erik MacArthur's direction is absolutely horrible and the brief animated sequences inserted along the way come off as cheesy and bothersome. What was the point of these? MacArthur also directed a short film, featuring the same characters from this film (played by different actors and actresses, of course). The short was named "Life Makes Sense If You're Famous". If this idea was originally planned for a seven-minute short, why would you want to stretch it out into a movie that is eighty-nine minutes long? The logic behind that choice simply befuddles me. It explains why the movie seems as though the plot is stretched so thin and why the pacing is patchy and slow in many places. Overall, I would say that there really isn't any reason why you should watch this movie…unless it is on cable one night and nothing else better is on. But it still isn't a bad movie, thanks mostly to the likable cast.

Final Thought: Though not bad, there is no reason to watch it.

Overall Rating: 4/10 (C )

I've been a big Jason Mewes fan since watching "Clerks" back in 1994 and have followed his career by watching the "View Askewniverse" films for the past decade, so I was excited to see Jason playing a different character than the one he's been playing all these years, but unfortunately this film was tainted with Paris Hilton's atrocious acting, which unfortunately spoils the whole film. The premise of the story resembles something you'd expect to see on Nickelodeon "The son goes to Hollywood to save his Fathers restaurant and falls in love." If you're a Jason Mewes fan watch this film he was really good in it, but if you not, or never heard of him, avoid this film like the plague it's truly remarkable how bad this film is.

I love bad movies. I do, I love watching them and laughing at their absurdity. This was a bad movie that I couldn't enjoy.

Maybe it was because I couldn't get passed my previous conceptions of the two leads. To me Paris Hilton is always Paris Hilton, for better or worse I cannot get "That's Hot" and Tinkerbelle and well everything else associated with her public persona. And Jason Mewes...he's Jay, I see him and I wonder where Silent Bob is. (As a side note Kevin Smith is in the film, although not silent, thank God, he's probably the funniest person in it!) And here I was thinking it was impossible to have worse chemistry than Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman in Episodes II and III...Oh boy was I wrong. Mewes and Hilton make them look like Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Not that they don't try their best. I can't help but think that this character Owen is closer to the real Mewes than Jay...He's silly and goofy but also a little sweet and incredibly loyal. As for Paris, she seems very uncomfortable as Lisa, which is strange because this is not a person I have ever seen feeling uncomfortable about anything.

Now on to the supporting cast, who I must say, are excellent. Like I said before Smith, as Owen's lazy farting best friend back home, is hysterical. The guy who plays Lisa's boyfriend Hayden is great. Also Owen's Uncle Earl is hysterical, as are the guys in Hayden's "posse" This is definitely worth the rental, but except crap...even from crap...