“This is a great bad movie,” a character comments at one point in Austin Hillebrecht and Sean Parker’s micro-budget comedy Coup de Cinema. “It’s good for a laugh.” She may as well be describing Coup de Cinema, which almost achieves that rarefied status of “so-bad-it’s-good” films. Its frequently sharp humor, (somewhat) pointed observations on the current state of filmmaking and self-awareness place the film in another unique zone – neither bad enough to be good, nor good enough to transcend its many glaring flaws.
Down-on-his-luck Miles (Austin Hillebrecht) can’t seem to get a job at any film production company. He even sells his beloved camera (the horror!). Due to a literal twist of fate, Miles gets slapped in the face with a DVD cover (yes, you heard that right, Digital Versatile Disc) of a bargain-bin film by a company called Bourgeois Pictures. The young chap promptly sneaks into the studio and, and using his parents as references, becomes a production assistant.
“Miles secretly overtakes the production – or, as he calls it, ‘hijack the movie.’”
Miles is soon discouraged by the all the trashy output – we’re talkin’ bottom-of-the-barrel titles like The Basement That Came Upstairs, titles that make the Asylum output (Sharknado) look Oscar-worthy. Determined to enhance the quality, Miles secretly overtakes the production – or, as he calls it, “hijacks the movie.” He adds character development to script revisions, “throws out the sexism, so it does not suck,” and directs huge chunks of the film himself. The actual director, oblivious at first, soon discovers Miles’ treachery…Yet the show must go on, for what would such a film be without the grand finale premiere?
"…achieves the coup of cleverly mocking the kind of cinema it itself resembles"
Thanks for the review! I think it’s a fair one. As for the movie feeling dated by a decade, I say keen observation! I probably didn’t mention it during the submission process, but it was shot in 2010.