Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick make a fine comedy team in this true story which plays like a combination of THE PRODUCERS and THE SOPRANOS. FBI mob-buster Joe Devine (Baldwin) is sent to Rhode Island to get the goods on Teamster racketeer Tommy Sanz (Tony Shalhoub). In order to do so, he sets up a sting disguised as a fake movie production. To be convincing, he needs a script and a director, and he finds both in the form of gullible dreamer Steven Schats (Broderick). Despite the fraudulent nature of the production, Schats's movie-making fever proves so infectious that before long Joe is convincing his superiors to agree to a three-picture deal. Other FBI agents are joining the filmmaking crew, and even Tommy Sanz is contributing script ideas. Funny as Broderick and Baldwin are together, the real laughs in this cleverly written satire come from the supporting characters. Joan Cusack is great as a fast-talking, foulmouthed Hollywood insider. And Toni Collette tears into her role as a sexually uninhibited former Oscar nominee who is willing to go to obscene lengths to save her career from the softcore Cinemax gutter. Other inspired casting includes Pat Morita as himself, Ray Liotta as a scheming FBI director, Tim Blake Nelson as Steven's deranged cowboy brother, and Calista Flockhart as his dog-hating girlfriend. Even Buck Henry makes an appearance, sporting one of the worst-looking toupees in the history of cinema.

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