Star (2001)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A comedic entry in the BMW film series "The Hire" and takes second place to Powder Keg for my favorite episode of season one.This time, the driver (played by Clive Owen as usual) is given the task of transporting a b****y rock star (played by Madonna, who is uncredited for her role) to her destination. But as it turns out, the task he was given is a little bit different than expected...Comedy and car action ensues. This one definitely surpassed my expectations. The episode that follows this one (Powder Keg) is even better, except Powder Keg is much darker and also very moving.8 out of 10

In 2001 and 2002, BMW sponsored a series of 8 films all with the common theme that a BMW was prominently featured in it....and, of all things, Clive Owen starred in each one. For this odd experiment, some of the top directors in the world were somehow obtained--including John Woo, Ang Lee and even the great veteran director John Frankenheimer. While I don't think you'd consider Guy Richie a great director (mostly because his track record is still pretty short AND because he made "Swept Away"), I do think he showed greatness with this short film. Imagine....Richie made a film I liked more than one of my heroes, John Frankenheimer--and I really, really liked the Frankenheimer short.This film stars Richie's wife at the time, Madonna. Now I am not sure how much of this is the real Madonna and how much is just a fun parody--I certainly don't know the lady and can't comment on what she's like off stage! I hope this film is her way at poking fun of herself and celebrities! Regardless, it's a dandy film.It begins with Madonna (who is never mentioned by name, but she plays a mega-music star) getting ready to be driven to her next performance. In the process, she treats her employees like dirt and her attitude is contemptible. She truly is a horrid person in this film. However, what she doesn't know is that she's about to ride in a BMW M3--one of the hottest sports sedans in the world. My wife has a car with the same sports package and engine--and it is a rocket (this is NOT an ad for BMW, by the way--I like my non-German minivan, thank you very much!). But it's important to the story as the driver gets to use this car to teach this spoiled brat a little bit of humility!! Exquisitely acted, constructed and filmed--this is one impressive short film and I guess I have to give Richie another try--just NOT his "Sherlock Holmes" (as I am Holmes purist).

The only problem I have with this commercial, the only thing in it that makes me like Ambush better is that it's based almost entirely on the humor... and unlike action, humor is not a good enough base for a car commercial... at least not for me. Ambush was primarily based on action, but also had some humor. This is almost all humor, and not great humor at that(not in my opinion, anyway). Guy Ritchie is a talented director, and his stylish direction really helps here... in fact, had it not been his style of fast-paced editing and overdone sound effects as well quickly changing camera angles, I probably wouldn't have cared too much for this commercial. The humor just was too lame for my tastes... OK, we have this big star who's convinced that she's better than anyone else and constantly gets what she wants. How old is that? Madonna does this part well, but the jokes are just too old. Clive Owen stills does great work as The Driver, but his character was a little too... childish, I think, in this one. The ending was good, with the stuck-up star getting what she deserves, but it's still just a tad dull. The car-chase stuff was cool, though, and Ritchie's stylish direction make this worth watching. I recommend this to fans of Guy Ritchie and the The Hire commercials. 8/10

Guy Ritchie yet again demonstrates his ability to tell the whole story in the minimum number of frames. All the BMW films are worth the download time, but STAR is definitely the pick of the crop. Clive Owen is a fine dramatic actor (I really enjoyed his performance in Croupier); now he gets the chance to do comedy - and he does it very well. Considering that he spends the entire film sat in a car he does a great performance with his eyes alone. The script is very funny, the editing sharp to a frame, and Madonna demonstrates that being a pop diva doesn't mean that you can't laugh at yourself.Why are you reading this when you could be downloading it?