The Kid Stays in the Picture

Not only did movie mogul Robert Evans produce some of the greatest movies ever made--Chinatown, The Godfather, and Rosemary's Baby, as well as huge hits like Love Story and Urban Cowboy--but he defined Hollywood high life, dating models and movie stars and, eventually, succumbing to cocaine addiction and scandal. You don't live like this without having a huge ego, and that ego is gloriously on display in The Kid Stays in the Picture, a brilliantly dishy documentary on Evans. What puts this cunning compilation of movie clips and digitally manipulated photos over the top is that Evans himself narrates the movie with a riveting mix of narcissistic self-aggrandizement and cool self-assessment. There are no interviews with other people to give any outside perspective on this man's life; for the duration of the movie we are plunged into Evan's own head, and it's funny, sad, and always fascinating. --Bret Fetzer