Delirious (2006 film)

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Delirious
Delirious Poster.jpg
Directed by Tom DiCillo
Written byTom DiCillo
Produced byRobert Salerno
Starring Steve Buscemi
Michael Pitt
Alison Lohman
Gina Gershon
Callie Thorne
Kevin Corrigan
Richard Short
CinematographyFrank G. DeMarco
Edited by Paul Zucker
Music by Anton Sanko
Production
companies
Thelma Productions
Artina Films
Distributed by Peace Arch Entertainment
Release dates
  • September 26, 2006 (2006-09-26)(San Sebastián Film Festival)
  • August 15, 2007 (2007-08-15)(United States)
Running time
107 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Box office$659,589 [1]

Delirious is a 2006 comedy-drama film directed by Tom DiCillo. It stars Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt and Alison Lohman.

Contents

It is the story of twenty-year-old Toby Grace (Michael Pitt) who progresses from a homeless scavenger in New York City to the assistant of a neurotic paparazzo, Les Galantine (Steve Buscemi), then falls in love with a famous singer, K'harma.

Plot

Toby, a young homeless man, and paparazzo Les meet when Toby interrupts a crowd of paparazzi waiting to take pictures of pop diva K'harma Leeds (Allison Lohman). Toby volunteers to go get coffee for Les and two of his colleagues. On his way back with the coffee, Toby is stopped by K'harma's agent from inside the building and asked to see if the photographers are looking. When he confirms that the photographers are looking away, the agent guide K'harma past Toby towards a car. The photographers catch on and rush the car, colliding with Toby and spilling the coffee he is carryinf. Later that night, Toby approaches Les outside his apartment, scaring him. He claims that he was bringing his change back from the coffee run, but eventually asks to stay with him that night, as he us cold and has no place to stay. Les relents, and the next day, Toby offers to be his assistant for free, which Les accepts.

While being thrown out of a party that night, Les and Toby overhear a celebrity's agent mention his client Chuck Sirlon's upcoming penile surgery. Toby writes down the address, and they show up there the next day. After waiting for quite some time, Les gets a shot of Sirloin which ge refers to as "the shot heard 'round the world", although he only gets $700 for it. Les brings Toby to his parents' home for dinner, where he sees them ridicule Les for his work, which they consider to be tawdry and him a disappointment.

Toby consoles Les and Les offers to take Toby's headshots free of charge to help him work toward his dream of being an actor. However, their partnership shows signs of distress after K'harma takes Toby backstage without Les, angering the latter. The next day, at Les' apartment, Toby gets a call from K'harma, who invites him to her birthday party. Toby agrees on the condition that he can bring Les along, making it up to him.

At the party, Les breaks his promise to Toby not to take paparazzi shots and photographs K'harma with Elvis Costello, getting him and Toby thrown out. Toby is extremely angry at Les, who feigns dropping his camera's memory card into a cup of coffee (unbeknownst to Toby, Les ejects his camera's battery instead) and offers to print Toby's headshots and show them to casting agents. The next day, Toby says his stomach hurts and that he cannot go with Les. After he leaves, Toby tries to leave after him, only to find that Les has locked him in. He accesses Les's computer and discovers the pictures of K'harma and Elvis Costello from the party on it. Feeling betrayed, Toby escapes by unhinging the apartment door.

Later, Toby is seen walking through the park, seemingly homeless again, until a couple nears him. He runs up to the man and stabs him in the stomach. The woman tries to talk him out of killing her, but forgets her line. A bell rings, and it is revealed that the park is a film set, and Toby is the lead character. Les repeatedly tries to talk to Toby by calling Toby's agent until Toby finally speaks to him. Les offers to apologize over coffee, but Toby declines. Toby professes his love for K'harma on film, which skyrockets his popularity.

At home, the jealous Les comes across a vintage camera his father gave him with a concealed gun inside, and resolves to murder Toby with it. At a red carpet premiere, Toby walks down the red carpet with K'harma. Les shows up, and raises the camera, getting ready to shoot him, but then sees him kissing K'harma and stops. As he is trying to leave the crowd, Toby sees him and calls him back. They shake hands, and Les takes a closeup shot of the smiling Toby. Les urges Toby to go, and Toby walks down the red carpet into the premiere, with K'harma at his sidr. Les, although disappointed that recognition still eludes him, is proud of Toby's fame.

After the credits, Les is shown on an entertainment news show discussing his picture of Toby, which the interviewer refers to as "the shot heard 'round the world".

Cast

Reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 82% approval rating, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 6.75/10. The website's consensus reads, "A funny, energetic satire of the paparazzi life and the entertainment industry, Delirious is another winner for indie helmer Tom DiCillo." [2] On the website Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 22 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [3]

References