Maps to the Stars Movie Review
'Maps to the Stars' Movie Review Movies for Grownups
— Receive access to exclusive information, benefits and discounts To expose the shallow self-absorption of the entertainment capital of the world, Maps shows us the intersection of two sets of Hollywood inhabitants. There's the Weiss family, led by successful self-actualization guru Dr. Stafford Weiss (, perfectly cast for his knack of playing slimy). Weiss has a daughter, Agatha (), a pyromaniac locked away in a Florida asylum, and a son, Benjie (), a profanity-spewing child actor with a drug problem. The doctor's wife, Christina () — she's also his sister, we'll learn later on — is a devoted stage mother to bratty Benjie. Silly me — did I say Agatha is temporarily unavailable? Unbeknownst to her family, she has been released and has made her way back to , where she hitches a ride with aspiring actor-screenwriter (but current limo driver) Jerome Fontana (). Thanks to Jerome's industry connections, Agatha winds up in the home of Havana Segrand (), a fading star hoping to stage a career comeback. How, precisely? By playing the same role that brought fame to her mother, who was killed in a fire. (You definitely want to steer clear of both fire and water if you're a principal in Maps to the Stars.) Segrand happens to be a client of Dr. Weiss. She is also desperately seeking a new personal assistant — her latest "chore whore" just quit — and Agatha knocks her job interview out of the park. See where all this is headed? Yeah, me neither. Cronenberg has assembled a talented cast here — didn't Moore just take home an for — and they all do terrific jobs of playing überweird. But the plot lines they follow, like the bogus trails on those star maps, too often lead to dead ends. In a town so devoid of morals that even incest is commonplace, there's just no way of turning back. is West Coast editor of AARP The Magazine. Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
' Maps to the Stars' May Leave You Lost
This ultra-dark portrait of Hollywood' s underbelly rates but a single star
Rating: R Run time: 1 hour 52 minutes Stars: John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska Director: David Cronenberg Courtesy Focus World “Maps to the Stars” director David Cronenberg has assembled a talented cast and they all do terrific jobs of playing überweird. Plats purporting to show the locations of celebrity homes are sold on every street corner in . They are fake — and Maps to the Stars is just about as inauthentic a portrait of La La Land as they are. Not that 's latest satire means to be entirely realistic. But the director and his screenwriter, Bruce Wagner, go to such extremes in skewering movie stars, the sycophants who feed on them, and the film and TV biz in general that the movie loses both its shock value and its laugh factor very early on.Get More Movies
— Receive access to exclusive information, benefits and discounts To expose the shallow self-absorption of the entertainment capital of the world, Maps shows us the intersection of two sets of Hollywood inhabitants. There's the Weiss family, led by successful self-actualization guru Dr. Stafford Weiss (, perfectly cast for his knack of playing slimy). Weiss has a daughter, Agatha (), a pyromaniac locked away in a Florida asylum, and a son, Benjie (), a profanity-spewing child actor with a drug problem. The doctor's wife, Christina () — she's also his sister, we'll learn later on — is a devoted stage mother to bratty Benjie. Silly me — did I say Agatha is temporarily unavailable? Unbeknownst to her family, she has been released and has made her way back to , where she hitches a ride with aspiring actor-screenwriter (but current limo driver) Jerome Fontana (). Thanks to Jerome's industry connections, Agatha winds up in the home of Havana Segrand (), a fading star hoping to stage a career comeback. How, precisely? By playing the same role that brought fame to her mother, who was killed in a fire. (You definitely want to steer clear of both fire and water if you're a principal in Maps to the Stars.) Segrand happens to be a client of Dr. Weiss. She is also desperately seeking a new personal assistant — her latest "chore whore" just quit — and Agatha knocks her job interview out of the park. See where all this is headed? Yeah, me neither. Cronenberg has assembled a talented cast here — didn't Moore just take home an for — and they all do terrific jobs of playing überweird. But the plot lines they follow, like the bogus trails on those star maps, too often lead to dead ends. In a town so devoid of morals that even incest is commonplace, there's just no way of turning back. is West Coast editor of AARP The Magazine. Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures