Here's That Shia LaBeouf Movie Critic Short (UPDATED!)

UPDATE III: Un. Real. LaBeouf has taken to his official Twitter to apologize for not giving proper credit for having been "inspired" by Clowes' comic. One small problem with that: The film is effectively a shot-for-shot, word-for-word, panels-as-storyboards adaptation without credit. That's not inspiration, or even homage - it's straight-up plagiarism. LaBeouf is being more or less pilloried for this as we speak - which, since he's been wealthy and famous since his mid-teens will have no real career impact, but for now it's kind of amusing. I wonder if he actually does that "NoNONoNoNononononononoNoNONONOnoNo!" thing in real life?

UPDATE II: The video has been password-locked, in the wake of nobody being able to figure out if LaBeouf asked permission to film Clowes' comic (the author claims he doesn't know what's going on) and no one being able to answer if this is A.) a not-terribly-talented actor doing something idiotic or B.) a not terribly talented actor trying and failing at some kind of elaborate James Franco-style "life as comedy sketch" bit.

UPDATE I: The piece weirdly makes no mention of this, but it appears to be based on this Daniel Clowes comic:


I'll give the kid this: Making your "directoring debut" a short about how miserable, deluded and meaningless movie critics - online critics especially - are when you're best (exclusively?) known for "TRANSFORMERS" and "KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL" displays some serious "I don't care how I'm percieved" swagger. I mean... sure, that sort of thing is generally better reserved for when you've actually done something, but points for brass all the same.



Some of this is actually painfully well-observed in an "Okay, who blabbed?" sort of way - "roundtable" junket interviews really are singularly miserable, bizarre little pageants of feigned mutual non-resentment - which is why it's sort of dissapointing that it doesn't build to anything more interesting than "critics nitpick their betters because they're sad about their lives sucking."