I'm Still Here (2010)

We could not keep our eyes off the train wreck of Joaquin Phoenix, or "JP," in this mock-umentary of the star's so-called retirement from acting for a hip-hop career. Phoenix returned to apologize to David Letterman for pretending to crash and burn on The Late Show in March 2009. Before its release on Friday, September 10, and up until after its disappointing (box-office-wise) opening weekend, there was doubt as to whether it was really a documentary (I predicted it wasn't when I wrote about Two Lovers just after the first Letterman appearance--I also covered my faves of JP's previous work in that post). On opening day, September 10, the L.A. Times printed some hints (no spoilers on the first page, plenty on the second). We saw it that day, with 5 other moviegoers, just after 5:00 PM. Then, on Thursday the 16th, director Casey Affleck (brother of Ben, husband of Summer Phoenix, therefore JP's brother-in-law as well as good friend, Casey was nominated for an acting Oscar and more for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), was in the ensembles of Zach Braff's The Last Kiss (2006), Oceans Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen (2001, 05, 07), and more, and wrote and starred in Gerry (2002), which I did not like, despite John Waters' stating "Do not sleep with anyone who doesn't love this movie.") announced in the New York Times (no spoilers) that he wanted to "come clean" about this, his directorial debut. One fan on imdb opined that Affleck talked because the moviemakers expected a Borat opening and instead got Gigli, and ifc.com (Independent Film Channel)'s Matt Singer expressed a similar opinion. In our theatre four of us laughed a lot, and I'm sure many more will go to see it now that the "secret" is out.

You know those movies you hate because the lead character is someone that drives you crazy? This is not one of them. We truly thought it was funny in a cringe-y sort of way and hoped it was not real. Not for prudes, this movie has gratuitous male nudity, naked hookers (not really gratuitous when they're hookers, after all), excessive drug use, lots of bad language, and a few gross-outs. After you see it, read this article on "I'm Still Here-y Theories," written before the announcement.