James Franco’s new movie “Zeroville” is set in the era following “Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood” — it begins with a reference to the Manson murders — but was shot long before Tarantino’s latest. In 2014, to be exact, and now it’s clear why this indie was shelved for so long: It’s a mess.
Directing himself as Vikar, a possibly autistic ex-seminarian who becomes an obsessive film editor, Franco adapts a 2007 novel of the same name about the mysticism of the movies. Sporting a shaved head tattooed with an image of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, Franco’s character hunches through a series of interactions with film biz heavy-hitters in the 1960s and ’70s, some named, some not. Seth Rogen appears as Viking Man, a riff on militaristic screenwriter John Milius; Franco’s younger brother Dave plays the ghost of Clift. Will Ferrell is a bully of a producer, while Jacki Weaver is the film editor who teaches Vikar his trade.
Between Ferrell’s rants and Vikar’s robotic “I think it is a very good movie” mantra, Franco seems to be aiming for comedy, but there are few laughs to be had. One exception is Craig Robinson as a cinephile burglar, who waxes poetic about “Raging Bull” during a stickup.
Weaver, and Franco’s depiction of the little-seen process of editing, are also engaging, but can’t save this wobbly, self-conscious hash of a movie (which, ironically, has been edited into a decent trailer). Megan Fox, as Vikar’s actress crush, is just here to be a tragic beauty upon which he can project all his movie fantasies. Vikar may be in love with cinema, but Franco mostly seems in love with himself.