ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

moonspinner55 Womens fashions executive-turned-failed actor-turned movie studio chief Robert Evans remembers his life, perhaps narrating from his source autobiography in a tough-guy style filled with ego-inflated rhetoric and purple prose. Although Evans knows the movie business inside-out, and worked with or crossed paths with some of the biggest names of the 1960s and '70s, this film is about him...and he's not nearly as interesting as the celebrities who starred in his productions. Although mentioned as his friends, the personal troubles of Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson or Francis Ford Coppola are never mentioned--not even in passing, nor as a reflection on how their scandals may have had an effect on Evans' life. Redundant documentary is both sketchy and flabby; it has some interesting film clips and soundtrack choices, but it doesn't present a well-crafted overview of Tinsel Town. This is the Cliff's Notes version of Hollywood via Robert Evans, Big Shot. ** from ****

Cosmoeticadotcom The Kid Stays In the Picture is another in a series of stylistic documentaries over the last few years that seems to be reinvigorating the form by using different narrative and filmic techniques in service to a story. In Winged Migration it was an interplay of raising birds from hatchlings, mixing great flying footage with special effects, in The Fog Of War it was juxtaposing a man's life (ex-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara) with his beliefs, & then with special effects and facts not widely known, but this film goes the furthest in pushing this technique, to almost docudrama, and it succeeds brilliantly. As a work of art it's a tour de force. It's subject matter may seem a bit more problematic- it is not the life of a major political figure, but of a Zelig-like Hollywood mogul- Robert Evans- whose rise and fall is chronicled mostly by his own narration, & the computer effects of taking still photographs & making them come alive. There is very little of the talking head phenomena that infects most film documentaries. In his behind the scenes with the stars life Evans resembles rock DJ Rodney Bingenheimer from the documentary The Mayor Of Sunset Strip, and in its blend of subjectivity with reality it shares a kinship with the Harvey Pekar docudrama American Splendor, yet it succeeds far more than either of those two films because its subject is not an oddball, and has actually led a life worth examining. Neither Bingenheimer nor Pekar ever had the personal success Evans did…. Filmmakers Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein have achieved something rare in the film world- a documentary that both pushes the genre's boundaries yet achieves what all but the very best documentaries achieve- insight into its subject matter. Evans is a man who is both a starmaker and starstruck fan, barren chaff yet sage insider. He is truthful- to a degree, arrogant, yet self-deprecating- a refreshing turn from many self-satisfied and dishonest documentaries. This film was clearly worlds better than Bowling For Columbine- the doc that won the Oscar that year, yet the reason for its not winning, nor even being nominated, is obvious- aside from the fact Evans made many enemies in Hollywood. Most viewers will forget it is a documentary while it's being watched. So effectively subversive are Morgan and Burstein in their technique that it works against them in terms of recognition. Yet, this film, not Columbine, will be studied in film school.As for the features, there is not much- no making of documentary, just assorted interviews with celebrities at the film's premiere, and Evans accepting some awards. The commentary track by Morgan and Burstein is superb, one of the best explications of the marriage of technique with subject matter you're likely to hear.A cynic might argue that the film is an homage to a talentless actor who just had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and to a degree that's true. But, the film is really about the solipsistic nature of all people. We know that. We are that, by and large. It's only when we see that in people richer, more famous, and more rewarded that we look away from ourselves. The film opens with a quote from Evans: 'There are three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently.' Rarely has such truth been admitted by anyone in film, rarer still something done with it. This is why The Kid Stays In The Picture is a great documentary.

lastliberal I was half way through with the new Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair when I came across the excerpt from Robert Evans new memoir "Kid Nortorius." I had not heard of Robert Evans, but was fascinated enough to get a copy of "The Kid Stays in the Picture" to learn more.I was glued to the tube watching the story of a man who had the incredible luck to get noticed. You all know the story of how some actress was discovered selling malteds in some drugstore. Evan was put into The Sun Also Rises. Both cast and crew, Ernest Hemingway, Tyrone Power, and Ava Gardner included, attempted to have Robert Evans fired during production. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck refused, saying, "The kid stays in the picture," thus leading to both Evans' long career as a producer and the title of his book, and this film.He knew he had no future as an actor, but he also knew that the power was in producing. he managed to get named a Vice President of Paramount in another stroke of luck. Then his talent took over and he is the man behind such memorable films as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, Marathon Man, and his first as an independent producer, Chinatown. It is the story behind these films that is fascinating, especially the fact that he and Paramount were in on Love Story and The Godfather from the beginning - before they were even written! His story with directors Roman Polanski and Francis Coppola are equally fascinating.His own Love story with Ali McGraw is equally fascinating, though it ended in tragedy. But luck does a strange turn and tragedy really struck in the form of a Hollywood murder case where his name was mentioned. Not a suspect, just on the periphery, but it was enough to send him to the depths of hell - within a hair's breadth of suicide.It was his friends that brought him back to where he is today. Now, he is telling the rest of the story in a new Memoir, "Kid Nortorious".If you love films as I do, then you really need to see this one to provide a back story to some of your favorites. hey, you probably should be buying his books as well.

gazzo-2 ......oddly enough I had never heard of him before this came out--Robert who?? Turns out of course I should have--the guy produced Chinatown, Godfather and Marathon Man, along w/ sooo many others. Interesting indeed. I was fascinated to see him climb the rungs of Hollywood success, a lot of it having to do w/ attitude and not taking no for an answer. You hadda like those two Russki types who were his bosses as well.Startling also the way his career cratered in the 80's due to drugs and bad career choices(Cotton Club??)--such a contrast to his 70s peak. Only real problem I had w/ the movie--they should label some of the starlets on his arms in all those stills, ya know? I sorta picked out Joan Collins at 28 in one, but a series of blondes of the months can be confusing to remember. Who is gonna recognize Hilary Duff in 30 years who wasn't there, after all? Karen Black who?Overall worth a watch.*** outta ****