Review: Unfunny comedy ‘Walk of Fame’ takes aim at everyone

Aggressive and aggressively unfunny, Hollywood-set comedy “Walk of Fame” hates its characters and its audience — and the feeling is mutual. The debut of writer-director Jesse Thomas never elicits laughter, just questions: How did this get made? How much longer is it? How many times will I have to hear that catchphrase? Did no one see the boom mic in the editing room, or did they just not care? Will anyone not getting paid to watch it actually finish this awful movie?

After graduating law school, Drew (Scott Eastwood) works at a telemarketing agency with his best friend Nate (Cory Hardrict). He meets ex-flight attendant Nikki (Laura Ashley Samuels) and tracks her down at the acting school she’s attending. He prepares a monologue and continues attending classes, even after she shoots him down, because this is how characters behave in this movie. There he meets a variety of struggling actors who are almost all terrible as both performers and people.

A movie poster for 2013’s “Beautiful Creatures” in the background indicates that “Walk of Fame” has sat on the shelf for several years. But its age doesn’t explain its tone-deaf approach to poorly sketched caricatures, almost as though Thomas were checking off boxes of stereotypes to include as targets. Its mean-spirited jokes work to offend everyone, but they do so without ever actually being funny.

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‘Walk of Fame’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

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