Starstruck (1998)
Director: John Enbom
No score soundtrack release
Music clip 1, 2'32"
(1.74Mb) [end credits suite]
Music clip 2, 1'08" (807Kb) [action
scene, ca.1:25'00"]
THE FILM
Official blurb: "George (Jamie Kennedy) is a wannabe screenwriter who befriends actor Kyle Carey (Loren Dean) hoping it will help his own Hollywood stardom. Together, along with Kyle's girlfriend Iona (Carmen Electra), the three set out to enjoy the chic Tinseltown lifestyle until Kyle has a brush with the law. Desperate for money, the two friends plan a ridiculous scheme to kidnap and hold ransom Faye Dunaway's pet dog. Could this story be the big movie deal George was looking for?"
The blurb lies. This film is about a deluded pathetic flakey nobody who gets used as a doormat by a Hollywood burnout and in the process loses friends, social life and money chasing after his dream. The blurb also lies about this being a "hilarious look at making it - and losing it - in Hollywood". Hilarious this is not, but so long as the viewer does not expect laugh-out-loud or even black comedy beyond a few moments of nail-chewing embarrassment, this is a well-played if oft-trod look at the old adege that making it in Hollywood is all about who you know and how you play your reputation to everyone else. George's sycophancy toward Kyle more than borders on the homosexual (but fails to play for either the dramatic or sly comedy angle), and the way he and his friends use each other for their own gain and ego are at least probably a faithful representation of what a town full of wannabe stars can do to weakminded people.
"Starstruck (1998)" is described by an IMDb reviewer as "Rancid Piece of Garbage!" and it not to be confused with "Deception [Starstruck] (2000)" which is a TV thriller, and available at amazon.com. Also to note as usual is a link to other Beck projects: Amy Smart, who has a bit-part here as a media mogol's slightly kinky daughter resurfaces in the superior if uneven Interstate 60.
THE SOUNDTRACK
Without laughs to play to or real emotions to support, Chris Beck angles for a general "feel" approach, using classic 50's big band and glossy cinematic strings to emphasize the idylist grand Hollywood imagination that leads George by the nose through the hoops Kyle unthingingly sets out for him. One of the few exceptions is in a made-up fight scene at the end, where Beck plays again to Kyle's disproportionate imagination, turning his description of a desperate struggle into an epic battle. This cue plays naturally very close to the style Beck used for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which he was scoring at the time, but is the jazzy performance of his cues by The Seattle Jazz Philharmonic that gives the film its strongest protagonist.
CREDITS
Music by Christophe Beck
Music Editor - Zoran Borislavljevic
Score performed by The Seattle Jazz Philharmonic
Orchestra contractor - David Sabee
Music Recording Facility - Bear Creek Studios
Music Scoring Mixer - Dmitry Lipai
Scoring Coordinator - Rachel Santoy
Music Coordinator - Chris Kinsman
SONGS (etc.)