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Celebrities of all kinds are eventually going to be photographed by someone just because they have reached an elevated and known status in society. Occasionally, and some times more frequently, celebrities are followed by hoards of photographers that persistently seek the right moment in order to make a large amount of money off of one picture. When the occasion does not appear, the photographer might fabricate the right moment through a picture that tells more than a thousand words. These photographers are paparazzis and they got their name after Paparazzo (Walter Santesso), a celebrity-chasing photographer in Fellini's film La Dolce Vita (1960).***

In Paparazzi a newborn action film star, Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser), finds himself in line of the flash shooting fire generated by a mass of photographers. Unaware of the many dangers that some of these more unscrupulous photographers can cause Bo goes on with his life as it was before his celebrity status, which he soon regrets. The paparazzi discover Bo's naiveté in regards to his superstar position, as they begin to pursue this weakness of his. It eventually leads to Bo punching Rex Harper, one of these paparazzi played by Tom Sizemore, as he finds him taking pictures of his son. This is unfortunate for as Bo he ends up on the front page of the tabloids and must attend anger management courses, which is just the beginning of his problems.***

Rex Harper and his cohorts understand that Bo Laramie’s hot temper is a gold mine, which they chase in order to find another golden egg. On the way home from a party Bo and his family are followed by this group of photographing vultures as the flashes of the cameras cause temporary blinding of Bo, which leads his family into a severe car accident. The accident bears similarities to the accident of Princess Diana whose death is unfortunately related to paparazzi. The police cannot do anything while the Rex continues to abuse Bo's family in the tabloids, which leads Bo to eventually take the law into his own hands.***

Paparrazi has an interesting premise, but Paul Abascal who was supposedly handpicked by Mel Gibson does not execute the idea to its full potential. The problems with Paparazzi begin in the opening, as the character development of Bo Laramie never takes off the ground. This leaves a distance between the audience and the main character, which hurts the audience’s visual investment in the story. Additional awkwardness is generated by a dim-witted police officer that only realize things at the absolute crucial moment, which will have the audience’s eyes rolling like roller coasters. However, there are some amusing cameos by Mel Gibson, Chris Rock, Vince Vaughn, and Matthew McConaughey.***

Besides the plot holes and mistakes in the story the true pain is generated through the uneven balance between good and evil. Bo is naturally depicted as the hero and Rex is the villain that seeks to destroy his life and eat his soul. It cannot get much more black and white than this as Bo must seek his own justice while the audience is expected to sit and cheer him on. The film does give a feeble attempt to even the good and evil through the police investigation, but then again the police forces are portrayed as morons. When the film comes to an end the awkwardness will have left the viewer in a disarray of blunders, which will ultimately lead to a poor cinematic experience.*** ---

The image comes across as crisp and clear with some edge enhancement, but it does not affect the visual experience. Many shots appear bright, but that is possibly the choice of cinematography used while filming the film as the camera and the camera flash are an essential portion of the story. The disc is dual-sided with single layer on, which offers the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen on one side and the 1.33:1 full-frame on the other.***

The Dolby Digital 5.1 is average as the sound effects are neither great nor poor. The dialogues appear normal and the score is ok. There are only a few occasions when the Dolby Digital 5.1 is fully used.***

The extras on the DVD are actually pretty good, even though they are short. The documentary on the stunts of Paparazzi is the best portion of the extras, as it dives into scene composition and creation of the stunts in the scene. This is done through imaginative use of story boarding while displaying the shots, which is something most film enthusiasts enjoy. There is a short 4-minute Making-Of Featurette that provides some insight in the making of the film through comments from the actors. In addition, there are three deleted scenes on the disc and none of them are essential to the film’s success, yet they are interesting in their own way. The Inside Look contains some short glimpses of Jennifer Garner from the new film Elektra. It basically functions as a promotion for the film, but it is pretty cool. ***