The Amateurs, originally called The Moguls, is a 2005 comedy film written and directed by Michael Traeger and starring Jeff Bridges. The story revolves around six friends in a small town in the United States who decide to make a full-length amateur adult film.
Contents
Plot
Six friends come together to try to gain fame by making the world's most "innocent" adult movie ever made.
After the clueless crew finally completes the film, they screen it for the first time at the local bar. The brother of a girl whose scene ultimately was not used (besides some brief shots of her face) barges in, takes the reel off the projector, covers it in whiskey and sets it aflame.
It is revealed that this was the only print they had and that all their work has been lost. However, the cinematographer had been videotaping the entire production process on mini DV tapes. He then edits these down into a completely innocent documentary, minus the nudity and sex scenes, about the trials and tribulations of making (and then losing) their original film. This new version is released as the titular The Amateurs which becomes a critical and financial success on the independent film circuit.
Cast
Jeff Bridges as Andy Sargentee
Ted Danson as "Moose"
William Fichtner as Otis
Patrick Fugit as Emmett
Lauren Graham as Peggy
Glenne Headly as Helen Tatelbaum
Tim Blake Nelson as Barney Macklehatton
Joe Pantoliano as Some Idiot
Valerie Perrine as V
Jeanne Tripplehorn as Thelma
Isaiah Washington as Homer
Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Cherkiss
John Hawkes as Moe
Brad Henke as Ron
Steven Weber as Howard
Tom Bower as Floyd
Dawn Didawick as Clara
Norm O'Neill as Clara's Man
Alex D. Linz as Billy
Release
The film was released under the title The Moguls in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2006. The film was released under the title The Amateurs and opened in limited release in the United States on December 7, 2007.
Jeff Bridges has called it one of his favorite films and claimed the distributor went bankrupt which caused the film to have a small release.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 19% of 26 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "The Amateurs is a largely unfunny sex comedy that squanders a talented cast." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.