The problem with rock and roll photographer Kevin Mazur’s documentary “Sellabrity” is that it is beyond simple words like self-evident truth about the world of the celebrity and Paparazzi and straight into the land of the cliché. With talking heads like Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, J Lo and Jenifer Anniston testifying, the shock and aw tactics of attack photographers who stalk and instigate celebrities for the picture at all costs are roundly castigated.
And this is news because…?
Well, because it isn’t. Ever since Princess Di died in a car crash escaping photographers no one on the planet has the slightest doubt that the Paparazzi are a dangerous bunch of hellhounds who, when it comes to A List celebrities where one pix can change hands for 100K, are way out of line with their car chases, zoom lenses and stalking like stalking wild animals brutality. The birth of the reality TV celebrity has only added to the confusion in a world where you are celebrated for being on television. The medium is the message.
Mazur gives some history, Felline, 8 ½ Weeks, you know the drill, than shows some car accidents, shows a Paparazzi’s case for the defense, builds up on the terror the celebrities go through in the big cities, Miami, Hollywood, New York, blames the tabs who buys em, gets into the history of gossip and bails out 90 minutes later, none the wiser.
If Mazur had been smarter he would have narrowed his scope considerably, the only way to understand the Paparazzi is to become them, to live like them: that’s the documentary that needed to be made. If you aren’t aware of this boiler plate stuff it is because you don’t want to be, and if you can muster sympathy for the likes of Kid Rock being hounded you are a much better man than I am.
Grade: C