Chump Change

Starring:A.J. Benza, Clancy Brown, Jon Chardiet, Darlene, Miriam Flynn, Theo Greenly, John Judd (III), Christopher Lawford, Traci Lords, Peggy Maltby, Tim Matheson, Anne Meara, Bill Micale, McNally Sagal, Amy Stiller, Jerry Stiller, Sheila Travis, Abe Vigoda, Fred Willard
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Not Short Changed by Chump Change
deep comedy
Chump a Cheap Knock Off
Steve Burrows is a comic GENIUS!
the workings of the industry

Chump Change
Starring: A.J. Benza , Clancy Brown , Jon Chardiet , Darlene , and Miriam Flynn
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000E32V3
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Description

Funnyman Jerry Stiller (ZOOLANDER, TV's THE KING OF QUEENS), Tim Matheson (VAN WILDER, ANIMAL HOUSE), Traci Lords (BLADE), and Fred Willard (AMERICAN WEDDING, A MIGHTY WIND) poke merciless fun at the overblown culture of Hollywood in this award-winning comedy (Audience Award -- Best Feature and Best Actor, HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival 2001). When TV's Merv Griffin sues him, a frustrated commercial actor called "Milwaukee Steve" (Stephen Burrows) unwittingly stumbles into the notoriety he's longed for! As he rides the wave of undeserved popularity, Steve discovers that life in Hollywood's fleeting limelight can be just as maddening as rejection! But even though a return to his childhood home of Milwaukee doesn't give him what he's looking for ... it might just get him what he needs! In the irreverent tradition of JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, you'll laugh out loud as this hilarious comedy dares to compare the insane business of Hollywood with the equally insane, but completely mundane, routine of Midwestern life!

Customer Reviews:

Not Short Changed by Chump Change.......2007-06-26

Both clever and silly, this witty, well-written, well-acted little comedy deserved more confidence than the marketers seem to have had in it. Despite a series of film festival awards in 2001, it largely disappeared from view until quietly released on DVD in 2004.

This is hardly the first film to take a poke at its own industry and it surely won't be the last - Something to Sing About from 1937 with James Cagney, or the superb and darkly humorous The Player from 1992 with Tim Robbins are just two examples, though Chump Change makes no pretense of being anything so upscale as either. It is a very small movie made on a limited budget. However, Stephen Burrows, who also wrote and directed, enjoyably portrays an actor/comedian/screenwriter trying to get in touch with his roots after being overwhelmed in Hollywood. Traci Lords is utterly charming in an atypical role.

Other reviews demonstrate this movie is not for everyone, but I found it likable and funny.

deep comedy.......2007-01-10

This is what you need.
Deep Comedy.
It's the kind of film that requires, NO, deserves multiple screenings.

If you are looking for an explanation to the pathos that drives Hollywood, it resides here. Laugh at these people, or else...

Chump a Cheap Knock Off.......2005-09-24

If you've seen Christopher Guest's 1989 film, The Big Picture, then you've seen Chump Change (a much much better version, of course). This D-List chump borrows much of it's plot from The Big Picture - small town guy in big bad Hollywood, with two-faced agents and managers, crazy producers, a film deal that dies when the studio head gets fired and both have very similar happy endings. The boring, short and indulgent DVD bonus scenes should have stayed on the cutting room floor. Merv Griffin: thanks (not) for "Chump."

Steve Burrows is a comic GENIUS!.......2005-06-23

Chump Change is hilarious!

Why isn't this guy making more movies.

Buy it, this is the one - out of the dozens of DVD's you own - that you'll actually watch over and over.

the workings of the industry.......2005-03-06

'Chump Change' deals in a real wacky way with the workings of the Hollywood movie-industry. Its plot is cleverly set up from Wisconsin, where life is projected as straight, simple and down-to-earth -- quite the opposite from all Hollywood-hectics. Hollywood shown in its usual Californian climate, Wisconsin in the depth of winter. Hollywood offering fast sex by a limo-girl, Wisconsin a serious platonic friendship with a very northern girl.

This movie really is about contrasts, and therefore serves well to show us Hollywood's vanity, lies and inhuman money-greed. Traci Elizabeth Lords, as the northern girl, takes the lead by emphasizing the values of winterly Wisconsin. One can safely assume that this well-acted, almost black & white contrast must have been the real purpose for making 'Chump Change'. Much more than just telling a story about a Wisconsin-guy who makes it in Hollywood.

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