Press : Miller Dublin Festival

April 20 – 29, 2001

Chump Change
(Fame, Fortune, Cheese & Beer)

Director: Stephen Burrows
USA 2000   87 mins.   35mm,   Subtitles

Cast:
Stephen Burrows, Tim Matheson, Traci Lords, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller, Fred Willard, Clancy Brown, Abe Vigoda

Sc: Stephen Burrows
Ph: Allen Baker
Ed: Jeffrey Wolf, Pepper Welch
Des: Naomi Slodki
Mus: Matthew Cartsonis
Prod: Mary Anne Page
Prod Co / Print Source: The Burrows of Hollywood

“I realised my life was The Poseidon Adventure turned upside down.” Thus a rueful neophyte writer/performer in Hollywood limbo, the deadpan Milwaukee Steve, whose edgy talent – measured best by a string of truly witty one-liners – is, as per tradition, used and abused in La-La Land.

Breathing new comic life into the oft-tried oft-tiring saga of the innocent abroad, assailed by the bemusing babble of studio-speak and agent-ese. Steve Burrows’ showcase for his own creative credentials gains immensely from the 99%-sure factor that it’s grounded in his own past humiliations. Forever known as Mr. Crotch itch – from his seminal early role in a pharmaceutical commercial – his alter-ego is a bruised figure by the time he flashbacks on the farce that passes for reality in the fevered territory of ‘hot’ today / ‘who’? tomorrow. But one who does the right thing when it comes to living according to the wisdom of James Brown…
– Paul Taylor

Stephen Burrows/ USA

Hilarious new spin on the innocent-abroad-in-Hollywood formula, clearly wrought from the filmmaker’s own past humiliations.