Jiminy Glick In Lalawood

Martin Short's unctuous TV interviewer Jiminy Glick gets his own (unfunny) feature film that will probably only attract those fans who think the character was amusing in the first place. The rest of us will have our prejudices regarding this obnoxious creation confirmed by this lame effort. Beginning in Butte, Montana, where our moronic hero toils for a local TV station, the film quickly shifts to Toronto and its international film festival, which inexplicably has given Glick accreditation. With equally annoying wife Dixie (Jan Hooks) and their two boys in tow, the family heads off to the big city where, through some plot contrivances, Jiminy becomes the toast of the town, landing the only interview given in years with the reclusive Ben DiCarlo (Corey Pearson).

Ostensibly a satire on our celebrity-obsessed culture and the 'journalists' who play into its illusions, "Jiminy Glick in Lalawood" lumbers along, offering mostly uninteresting cameos of stars to play off Glick's boorishness and adding a pointless murder mystery, with Short doing a terrible imitation of David Lynch. The best thing about the movie: Glick's mock interviews with Steve Martin and Kurt Russell, who provide the wit that this film is otherwise lacking. Starring Martin Short, Jan Hooks, Elizabeth Perkins and Linda Cardellini. Directed by Vadim Jean. Written by Martin Short, Paul Flaherty and Michael Short. Produced by Paul Brooks, Martin Short, Bernie Brillstein and Peter Safran. An MGM release. Comedy. Rated R for language and crude sexual content. Running time: 90 min