Review of Auto Focus (2002) by Jimmy M — 20 Apr 2009
By today's standards, Bob Crane's perverted antics wouldn't get much of a paragraph mention in Perez Hilton's noxious blogs, but in the middle of the 1970's, it was shocking. What is most shocking is that Crane's murderer has never been brought to justice, even though it was probably John Carpenter all along.
This is less of a movie about a man's life than a weird relationship formed between a two-bit TV actor and a Hollywood groupie who wanted to be more than Crane's entourage. Even if Crane hadn't been a family man, making Disney movies and TV shows, his lifestyle would have still left many people speechless.
This movie is an interesting and overlooked focus on how fame can be both good and bad. Greg Kinnear is actually very good as Crane and Willem Dafoe is creepy as Carpenter. It's a shame this movie was more or less pushed aside in 2002 while everyone was raving about Eminem in 8 Mile.
Most based on true story movies follow a certain path. I like that this movie doesn't focus much on Hogan's Heroes as it does on the relationship between Crane and Carpenter. Crane could have very easily turned away from dinner theatre and done other steady work, but the dinner theatre afford him travel where he could meet and have sex with all the women he could.
This review of Auto Focus (2002) was written by Jimmy M on 20 Apr 2009.
Auto Focus has generally received positive reviews.
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