Former Punk'd accomplice and current Parenthood star Dax Shepard attempts to ditch comedy in favor of chopsocky action for this loosely constructed, largely improvisational mockumentary. Trailed by a camera and his real-life hapless, deer-in-headlights producing partner, Nate Tuck, he subjects A-list friends like Ashton Kutcher and Jon Favreau to an undercooked, incoherent pitch for a buddy-vengeance film called Brother's Justice. Acting like a deluded surfer dude, Shepard shows up in a flaming red gi to the Teen Choice Awards and Last Call with Carson Daly, while Tom Arnold attaches himself to the project as either Shepard's brother or father (depending on whether they can convince James Cameron to direct). Hollywood couldn't care less.
Apparently shot during everyone's spare time---sequences date back as far as 2006---the movie reeks of a throwaway joke that should have been left to die; even at a mere 80 minutes, this halfhearted Tinseltown satire still feels padded. There's an auto-critique buried in it somewhere, an admission that clever little ideas are worthless unless they're crafted into an actual movie, but there's scant evidence that anyone involved would know how to make that happen. Outside of a few spirited celebrity cameos---Favreau seems convincingly affronted by Dax's ineptitude, Bradley Cooper gamely tussles with him on a suburban lawn---this meta-vanity project isn't funny so much as counterproductive. It's no less a work of wankery for winking at us.
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