Mizuhara worked hard to build her stardom, but burnout and entitlement made her toxic on the PR circuit and generally unpleasant to be around. She decided to take a break in New York with her boyfriend Ren, but her churlish behavior finally pushed him to break up with her. She took it badly. Awkwardly, he was still carrying her phone and wallet when she stormed off in a huff.
Fatefully, Mizuhara wandered into Jack’s dive bar. She needs a place to crash and he needs a replacement actress fast or his first film will get canceled before it even starts, so he extorts her to play the lead. Admittedly, it is a jerkweed thing to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Of course, Mizuhara has never worked on such a cheap, disreputable run-and-gun movie shoot before, but finds she enjoys the freedom. There also seems to be something percolating between her and Jack, but being an annoying Brooklyn wannabe hipster, he is fully capable of sabotaging it.
Clearly, Ugana conceived the film for the kind of cult movie fans who will be delighted to see Larry Fessenden playing Crummy Movies boss Rusty Festerson. It is not a tribute spoof in the tradition of One Cut of the Dead or Matinee, but it definitely wears its love for schlocky genre movies on its sleeve.
It is also a rather endearing rom-com for people who don’t ordinarily watch rom-coms, even though there is a great charm imbalance between the winning Ui Muhara and the relentlessly annoying Estevan Munoz, as Shina and Jack, respectively. Muhara portrays Mizuhara’s maturation and growth with sensitivity and credibility, whereas Jack’s motormouth mania induces more cringe than laughter.