This film basically builds its entire plot around one joke - he hates his film, but can't use the Alan Smithee pseudonym like other directors as it's his real name. That in itself is just ridiculous, which leads me to question how this trash ever got made.A big problem is it can't decide if it wants to be a movie with a plot or a mockumentary. About half the film concerns the aforementioned premise, while the other half is just famous people making cameos, and when they talk making endless references to other films. The references are far too obvious and just come off as cheesy and stupid-sounding.The film also thinks that just because celebs are playing themselves, if they say profane stuff it will automatically be funny. And it isn't. At All. I didn't hate writer Joe Eszterhas' earlier film Showgirls as much as some did, however this film just has no redeeming qualities.

For those who don't know, Alan Smithee is not a real man, rather, a fake name for Hollywood filmmakers to choose if they are not happy with the end result of whatever movie they're making. Generally, these films will be films that were either destroyed by the studio, or were crafted together in an uncaring and unconcerned fashion. Some films that are "directed" by Alan Smithee include HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE(a movie I liked), THE BIRDS 2(which I thought was okay), GUNHED(which I loathed), and SUPERNOVA(which wasn't that bad in my opinion). BURN Hollywood BURN is a film by Alan Smithee. Yep, the director of BURN Hollywood BURN was so ashamed of the result of his movie about Alan Smithee that he chose the Alan Smithee alias as the director of the film. Um... Yeah. Cool? Not really. This film apparently is intentionally bad, but it really takes talent to make something this bad. I wonder what would have happened if instead of Hollywood wasting such fine talent as Eric Idle,Coolio, and Jackie Chan on a half-assed project like this, they decide to quit at the screenplay stage, if there is a screenplay, and pack up, go home, and then continue putting out their usual crap and occasional gems. That would've been cool. If they had done that instead, we wouldn't have gotten this boring, cheap, confusing mess of a picture. Sure, it has it's followings, and sure, people undoubtedly will forever love it for it's energy, wit, talent, and uniqueness, but in the long run, it was a film that never should have been made and will most likely be forgotten about.

"A mockumentary of a mockumentary" is the best term I can think of describe this random, self-conflicted attempt at Hollywood self-parody.Supposedly, a first-time director whose real name is Alan Smithee directs a huge summer blockbuster called Trio. But he thinks his movie stinks, so he steals the film canisters. Cue lots of faux interviews with studio heads, big-budget stars, family members, and random other people who wander in and out of the story.The movie is supposed to be a lampoon of Hollywood. But everyone in this picture acts like they're afraid to reveal too much information about what they're supposed to be lampooning, as if too good a roasting of executive-Hollywood hubris might cost them a future role. Sylvester Stallone and Whoopi Goldberg in particular seem terrified that anyone might find out that A-list movie stars like themselves really ARE as demanding and arrogant as the parody script portrays them. Gasp gasp.So the whole thing has a tone of "let's make fun of the boss but we're not sure if he's watching or if he'll think it's funny so let's tone it down." Compromise comedy never works.On top of that, the real movie Burn Hollywood Burn seems to have suffered all the calamities that the fictional movie Trio did. You've got your petulant cast, a script that's been over-written into a nonsensical blob, and a director who removes his name from the credits. Everything except the master copy being stolen. Unfortunately.As a result of all these conflicting forces, Burn Hollywood Burn becomes a mockumentary of a mockumentary. It's Hollywood making fun of Hollywood making fun of Hollywood. It's self-parody taken to a new extreme of recursiveness.And as final tribute to the complete insincerity of this production, there are outtakes in the final credits. Outtakes, in a movie where everybody plays parody versions of themselves. Shouldn't the outtakes BE the movie?

This film is actually a rather intelligent, if cynical, satire of the shallow and idiotic nature of Hollywood. More cameos than you can shake a stick at. Ryan O'Neal is great as an amoral producer. Eric Idle is even better as an unfortunate director named Alan Smithee whose movie is corrupted by the studio. He wants to remove his name from the movie, but since Alan Smithee is the pseudonym used for directors who want to remove their name from a picture, he is out of luck and becomes... unbalanced. Very dry, but very amusing. If you liked Last Action Hero and Purple Rose of Cairo, you'll probably like this.