Review of Auto Focus (2002) by Dillon R — 22 Sep 2006

[color=black]A life in Hollywood is the dream of every person that watches movies and tv. In this country, being famous is just a step down from being immortal. We give the people we watch on the silver and small screen so much praise for simply being there, that we never think about what comes with their life behind the camera. Auto Focus, which chronicles the spotlit life of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, uses Hollywood as a backdrop of corruption and scandal, and is more a place of nightmares instead of dreams.[/color].

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[color=black]Crane's life was peaceful when he was in radio. He loved his job and made good money, but he wanted more. His wish was granted when his agent offered him a gig on tv. But a star role on a comedy set against a POW camp wasn't really the kind of name he looked to make for himself. He gave in though, and as he began his running as Colonel Hogan, his career was at the peak of success. As his fame grew though, his nights as strip clubs became more frequent and with the company of his friend John Carpenter, he became involved in wild sex parties that eventually destroyed two marriages and cost him his three children.[/color].

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[color=black]The film shows us the darkest side of temptation and how too much of it can tear a man apart. It wasn't just a sex addiction that brought Bob Crane down the pit of lonliness, but how his personal life clashed with his image in the media. Carpenter was an expert in video and made a habit out of taping his and Crane's sexual exploits. Not only were there videos made, but countless photographs that Crane failed to keep secret. This was no secret to Crane, but by the time he realized what he was doing to his career, his habit had taken over his mind.[/color].

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[color=black]Greg Kinnear plays Crane with an undeniable likability that makes us feel for him even after he is unfaithful to two wives. He portrays the downsliding star as a sad and utterly lonely man who's only true happiness is with women he barely knows. "What was her name again?", he asks while watching one of his sex films in his basement. Kinnear is especially terrific in a scene with Crane and his former agent, played by Ron Leibman, where his self pity reached its boiling point.[/color].

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[color=black]As naive as Crane was, Carpenter was aware of what Hollywood was and what it brought. In one of the movie's more comical scenes, Carpenter asks a girl what time it is, and showing her a digital watch with an unflattering graphic on it he remarks "It's fuck time". Willem Dafoe is a perfect choice for Carpenter's eccentricity. Dafoe can exude so many different moods in one scene, that we're always aware of what he's thinking, even if he's trying to hide it.[/color].

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[color=black]As two men caught in between the lustful life of Hollwood and the cursed aftermath it brings, Crane and Carpenter are dependent on one another not by friendship, but on the favors they do for for each other. Crane needs Carpenter's technology while Carpenter needs Crane's fame to get women. The two don't have a real relationship, but by the end of Crane's life, it's the only one that either man can call real.[/color].

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[color=black]By Crane's death at the end of the film, he'd lived the life that he had always wanted. He got the fame, the money, the women, but most of all, he got the sex. He got so much of it, that it overshadowed everything else that he had. Kinnear's narration speaks the last line of the film. "Men gotta have fun". Bob Crane had it, and it tore him apart. [/color][color=black] [/color].