Director Phillip Messina’s With Friends Like These . . . is a Hollywood comedy (in the vein of The Player ) about a group of friends (Robert Costanzo, Alan Arkin, David Strathairn, Jon Tenny) who are character actors competing for the biggest part of their careers: a leading role in a Scorsese movie. An entertaining, clever look at the backstabbing actors do in search of recognition and fame. A broad comedy with very few cheap laughs, it styles itself as an independent film. With cameos by big names like Bill Murray and Scorsese himself, it hardly seems like anything but a studio project.
(Underground filmmakers note: next time you decide to do your own independent film, pick up the phone and ask your good pal Scorsese to do a cameo.) That aside, it is well worth a look.
