Say, do you want to know what it takes to make a horror movie on a low budget? Do you want to know what trials a filmmaker and screenwriter go through to make a film and appease their stars? Do you want to know how hard it is to deal with executives and producers? After watching “Not Another B Movie,” I realized that no. I didn’t. And you know what? I didn’t care. The film is basically centered on a screenwriter who is meeting at a restaurant with some producers about his movie script and he basically spends the entirety of the movie imagining scenes from the horror movie, as well we recalling his experiences with snobby actors, and psychotic performers. There are also badly conducted audition scenes where the film gets to squeeze in some cameos for the audience, and nothing about the film is every really as entertaining or exciting as the filmmakers perceive it to be.
“Not Another B Movie” very much wants to be held in the regard of a Christopher Guest meta movie where characters get to deadpan takes and bring us in to their own little world, but I found myself caring very little about anything ensuing. The product placement concerns was a gag that could have taken off but sadly was a misfire like most of the film’s events. Even the obligatory cameos are somewhat dull and forgettable as director John Wesley Norton crams in a lot of B and C movie celebrities without ever having much rhyme or reason for their appearance. “Not Another B Movie” switches from self-indulgent to just plain tedious with plot elements that are never quite as clever as they want to be seen by the audience.
Often times the self-aware comedy is just a misfire, and I couldn’t actually tell what the movie was trying to convey other than making movies is a herculean effort that isn’t as fascinating as filmmakers think it often is. Not every story of making a movie is going to end up like “Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.” Sometimes making your movie is just like going to the store for some bread. Just another task that was done and over with. Just because something actually happened, doesn’t mean it’d make a good story. “Not Another B Movie” really wants to be a hilarious and brilliant examination of the struggles it takes to make a good horror movie, but in the end it’s a major misfire with flat humor, flatter cameos, and a message that wreaks of self-importance.