Attention Shoppers isn’t exactly a high profile film. But insofar as it’s been promoted at all, it’s been sold as a “riotous comedy” that “has more laughs than money can buy.” Wrong. This is another case of a movie that’s mediocre and hard to categorize getting mislabelled by bamboozled marketing people. This is no ‘riotous’ comedy. It doesn’t have a whole lot of laughs, and doesn’t try for many. It is a low-key, only occasionally humorous, film about the tenuousness of celebrity and the loneliness of a man is search of love.
The film pokes a few holes in the egos of celebrities who think – or wish – that the world revolves around them. Enrique Suarez (Nestor Carbonell) learns that he’s maybe not as big as he thought, or at least hoped. Enrique is a small-time television star, appearing on a sitcom called Two Guys, Two Gals and a Cuban. His name is not exactly a household word, but in Hollywood, every star is a star. As his marriage crumbles, Enrique is ‘lucky’ enough to get sent to a Houston K-Mart opening for a publicity appearance. Expecting a crush of fans, Enrique is humbled when he arrives and discovers that he’s not exactly a big draw. He sits at a little table in a store aisle, prepared to hand out autographs, virtually ignored by the trickle of shoppers that passes by. Those who do pay attention to Enrique are eccentric, and virtually none of them do anything for his self-esteem.
The comedy is low-key and sardonic – not the slightest bit riotous. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. There’s actually a hint of something interesting here, as Carbonell, who wrote the script and says that it’s based on a true story, is trying to do more than generate laughs. He has something to say about celebrity, and something about love. He’s not just trying to get cheap laughs here. Unfortunately, though, the substance that’s offered here isn’t enough to carry the film for 87 minutes.
There is comedy here, but the gags – what there are of them – don’t all work. In fact, many of them fall flat. It’s mildly funny to see Luke Perry here in a supporting role as a soap opera star with considerably more draw than Enrique. Perry, whose own 15-minutes of fame has long since expired, likely knows what Carbonell is getting at. Who knows whether he’s got a perspective on things, as Carbonell appears to have.
Attention Shoppers is neither a success nor a huge failure. And it at least deserves credit for trying to do more than just go for second-rate comedy. While it’s nice that it’s more than that, it’s just too bad that Carbonell and director Philip Charles MacKenzie didn’t try to do something more interesting with the ideas. A slightly less mundane television movie-style approach could have lifted this one above the level of mediocrity.
