A movie director and his leading lady feel the pressure as their shoot teeters on the edge of disaster ...

Witty and big-hearted satire of the process of making an independent movie. This comes in three parts, each act dealing with a particular scene and bringing a change of emphasis. The story is almost perfectly self-contained, with unity of action, place and time, and the writing and editing keeps it clipping along at a good pace. The writer/director uses the full potential of his set up by bringing in a host of characters and a range of technical aspects of the shoot, and yet wraps it up nicely through the romantic concerns of his creations.

Performances are good all round, and some real insights are delivered - the objection to dwarfs in dream sequences, the most self-obsessed person in the room coming up with the best idea (the blocking for the "admired from afar" scene). It's not a laugh a minute, but there are plenty of good moments.

The only time I noticed the music was when the director was giving a pep talk to one of the actors. Maybe there could have been more jokes on that "score" - or maybe I missed them.

Overall: Not a classic, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Nick Reve (Steve Buscemi) is the director of a low budget film. Nicole Springer (Catherine Keener) is his star. Wolf (Dermot Mulroney) is the artistic cinematographer. Wanda (Danielle von Zerneck) is the production assistant. The shoot keep getting interrupted and Reve blows up but it's all a dream. Reve directs another sequence but it turns out to be Nicole's dream. Then the filming continues on a dream sequence with angry Tito (Peter Dinklage) as a dwarf.

It's a perfectly fine as a behind the scenes indie but the two dream reveals just annoyed me. The movie is not particularly dramatic or funny. The first dream reveal deflated my expectations but the second one was the real killer. By the time the third section comes along, I didn't care about anybody or anything in the film. I do understand Tom DiCillo is trying to portray but one dream reveal is more than enough to get the point across.