De Niro’s comeback a predictable outing

Review

The Comeback Trail (M, 103 mins) Directed by George Gallo Reviewed by James Croot ★★ 1⁄ 2

Max Barber (Robert De Niro) and Walter Creasey (Zach Braff) have finally created a movie attracting a queue outside a theatre.

Unfortunately, no-one’s actually going to see Killer Nuns, they’re just protesting about it.

To make matters worse, it’s not only the Catholic Church that has unkind words to say about the 1974 flick. ‘‘This film’s excruciating bad taste is matched only by its terrible execution,’’ reads one review. ‘‘The only good thing is that, after 90 minutes, it’s over.’’

Still, that doesn’t deter veteran producer Max. ‘‘They liked the ending,’’ he smiles.

While Walter wonders whether the creators of such non-hits as Bigfoot Was My Lover and Cows From Beyond should finally quit the business, Max has already focused his attention on Miracle Pictures’ (renowned for living up to its motto: ‘‘If it’s a great picture – it’s a Miracle’’) next project.

That’s because he borrowed $350,000 from local crime lord Reggie Fontaine (Morgan Freeman) to make Killer Nuns and he’s now got 72 hours to square the ledger.

The mature, adult thing in his time of need would be to cash in the script of his dream project but, in his eyes, Paradise is not for sale. Instead, a radical solution comes to Max when he and Walter visit another movie set and witness the untimely death of actor Frank Pierce (Patrick Muldoon).

Aman renowned for doing his own stunts, he topples off the top of the LA Courthouse while signing an autograph for Walter. While the latter is devastated, Max is buoyed by the news that the producers of Pierce’s film got a $5m insurance payout – without shooting a frame.

Inspired, he decides to dust off the script for The Oldest Gun in the West. Searching the local film star retirement homes for a suitable leading man, he uncovers the legendary Duke Montana (Tommy Lee Jones).

Once the headliner of such movies as Say Please for Papa, The Man With the Golden Lasso and Silver Spurs, he’s now, in his own words, ‘‘a broken down, over-the-hill, has-been’’ with a death wish.

Surely with a little nudge, a dangerous horse, a rookie female director and a little on-set sabotage, an insurance windfall is only a matter of time?

A remake of a 1982 film, actually shot in 1974, described by The New York Times’ Janet Maslin as ‘‘a onejoke movie where the audience comes to much more harm than him [Duke, played there by former Flash Gordon and Tarzan, Buster Crabbe, in his final role tomake it to the screen]’’, Trail is a fitfully funny tale of movie-making misadventures.

Part of its problem comes from overfamiliarity. This is the kind of movie De Niro has made a few times now. In 1997, it was Wag the Dog, 2002 Showtime, six years later, What Just Happened.

In each, the former Raging Bull and Taxi Driver mugs hisway through a series of mishaps that satirise Hollywood’s dream factory. He usually suffers a few indignities. Here, it’s being kicked by a horse and being within a blast range. It also doesn’t help that the plot is essentially a combination of The Producers and Get Shorty, with the outcome never likely to stray from a predictable path.

Like the latter, it’s also filled with high-profile and somewhat forgotten stars, but while the original Trail only boasted Crabbe and had Hugh Hefner playing himself, this at least manages to get together a quite impressive ensemble.

While Braff ( Scrubs) is somewhat under-utilised and Freeman doesn’t really have to get out of second gear, Lee Jones reminds us all of what made him such an unlikely comedic star in the Men in Black movies.

He’s really Trail’s sole saving grace, taciturn, but sometimes hilarious relief from De Niro’s character’s endless patter.