Review of L.A. Without a Map

Aki Karusmaki or his equally brilliant brother Mika directed and wrote this stunning piece of Europeana. Or Finneana. I love it when these European amateurs poke fun at Hollywood while they themselves aren't capable of making one good movie per decade. Besides, Hollywood is such an obvious and all-too-easy target, and this sort of thing has been done a zillion times before, and mostly much better. The gags are primitive, unfunny, badly directed or written, and the movie has to be endured instead of enjoyed. So trite, the way they yet again use the unfunny, stone-faced Leningrad Cowboys as some kind of sorry comic relief. Many familiar faces in small roles (Saskia Reeves - with about three seconds of screen time, Delpy - as a ridiculously overplayed dumb blonde, Gallo - ridiculously overplaying an L.A. "dude", Depp - "re-doing" his "Dead Man" character as an obvious tribute to Karusmaki's infinitely more talented pal Jarmusch, etc.); these actors probably appeared for nothing, thereby pretentiously supporting Le Europeanne Cinematique Arte-te-te that way. If the Karusmakis are one of the current leaders in Europe's Filmlandschaft then Continental Europe must be in the worst shape than it's ever been. Politically and morally anyway.