Delirious (2007), NR

Starring: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Alison Lohman

Writer/director Tom DiCillo's satire Delirious (2006) eviscerates Hollywood celebrity and celebrity types with a relentlessly dissecting gaze and take-no-prisoners humor. DiCillo mainstay Steve Buscemi stars as Les Galantine, a sleazy and merciless tabloid photographer from the Big Apple, whose most noteworthy accomplishments are an image of Goldie Hawn eating lunch and one of Elvis Costello sans any headwear. Les is hoping desperately for his ticket in -- which he perceives as a prize shot of pop sensation K'Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman) as she's departing from a local club. He finds that ticket -- sort-of -- in the form of Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless young man with serious acting aspirations, who has a very brief exchange with K'Harma under his belt. Toby uses that exchange to finagle his way to an assistantship under Galantine, and the two team up for a stakeout, managing to swing 700 dollars for a photo of a celebrity who is recovering from penis surgery. While DiCillo cuts between the adventures of the two men and the vapid lifestyle of the untalented hack K'Harma, Toby begins his meteoric rise to the top of the Hollywood trash heap by attending a Soap Stars Against STD Convention, where he not only meets and impresses a big-shot casting director (Gina Gershon) but runs into K'Harma once again -- recently split from her beau -- and finds his way into her bed, setting the stage for his own ascent to superstardom. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide