Evans’ ‘Kid’ seems forced

REEL CRITICS

Movie producer Robert Evans is a self-proclaimed living legend.

Handsome, stylish and successful, Evan’s lavish life and lifestyle

rivals the Hollywood stars he’s worked and played with since the

1950s. Discovered while swimming in the pool at The Beverly Hills

Hotel by Norma Shearer, Evans made the transition from actor to

studio executive producing a string of hits that included “Love

Story” and “The Godfather.” His rise to fame, however, peaked with

his arrest for drugs in the 1980s.

In “The Kid Stays In The Picture” Evans provides a self-narrated

documentary tour of his opulent life that’s stocked wall to wall with

beautiful women, sleek sports cars, a breathtaking Hollywood home and

movie stars. The home movies, news reels and photos from Evans’ life

look like a segment from “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”

resulting in a sense of posing or re-enacting a life rather than

capturing someone in the midst of living their life. Photographs and

film footage of Evans’ personal and professional life are simply

professional publicity photos capturing the public image of Robert

Evans yet presenting it as the real Evans.

His personal and professional life never delves below the surface

of his successes and failures. Though married four times, only his

much publicized one with “Love Story’s” Ali McGraw is addressed. The

pain he professes to have felt when she left him for Steve McQueen is

delivered in such an entertaining manner that one comes to wonder how

deeply in love with or deeply hurt Evans was by McGraw. Hubris rears

its ugly head when Evans relates how he influenced, improved or made

the careers of notable actors such as Mia Farrow during the making of

“Rosemary’s Baby” or Francis Ford Coppola on “The Godfather.”

Evans is famous for spouting many famous quotes such as “There are

three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth.”

“The Kid Stays In The Picture” features only Evans’ side of the

story. Visually pleasing, the documentary itself incorporates new

techniques like moving scenery behind a still photo of Evans looking

out a car window. In addition, Evans’ lifestyle is stunning to look

at, but we are never taken beyond the exteriors, neither of the

buildings nor of his feelings. The tour of the house shows the rooms

empty and static, the family photos shown were all published in

magazines and the narration presents only one side, Evans’.

Heck, even the drug bust comes off rehearsed.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 39, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.