Bottom feeders trawling for instant celebs; Tom DiCillo's 'Delirious' displays measured sympathy for poor devils who try to get famous by exploiting the famous

'DELIRIOUS' Rating 3 1/2 out of 4

Toby Michael Pitt

Les Steve Buscemi

K'Harma Leeds Alison Lohman

Dana Gina Gershon

Vince Joseph D'Onofrio

Demo Rodrigo Lopresti

Corey Cinque Lee

Peace Arch Films presents a film written and directed by TomDiCillo. Running time: 107 minutes. No MPAA rating. Opening today atthe Music Box.

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If he had not been an actor, Steve Buscemi could have been apaparazzi. But then you can keep saying that about Buscemi. If hehad not been an actor, he could have been an incompetent kidnapper("Fargo"), or a cynical journalist ("Interview"), or a gangster(Tony Blundetto on "The Sopranos"), or a coffee house owner ("ArtSchool Confidential"), or a fanatic record collector ("GhostWorld"), or a drunk ("Trees Lounge"), or a director (which he was on"Trees Lounge," "Interview" and "Lonesome Jim"). Here's an actor whohas 104 movie and TV roles listed on IMDB, and he could have beenany of those characters.

There is a needy intensity about so many of his characters. Asinfants, before they could speak, they were already mentally saying,"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!" They insist on their space ina world that has never welcomed them, and that is a definition ofthe paparazzi. "This is my spot!" they scream as they block off afoot of sidewalk to take one of countless millions of photographs ofpitiful blond starlets emerging from limousines they screwed theirway into.

Their dream is that one big picture. One like the shot thateverybody has seen, of Sophia Loren gazing in amusement at JayneMansfield's wayward neckline. More often, however, Buscemi'spaparazzo in "Delirious" gets shots like Goldie Hawn having lunch,or Elvis Costello not wearing his hat. For him, a big score isgetting a photo of a star leaving the hospital after penile surgery.My advice: Take every shot you have of every actor leaving ahospital and say he just had penile surgery. How will it sound if hedenies it?

"Delirious," by writer-director Tom DiCillo, has a specialquality because it does not make paparazzi a target but a subject.It sees Les, the name of the Buscemi character, whose name itselftells you what you need to know about him. It watches him work, itgoes home with him, it listens while he espouses his paparazzi codeto a new friend named Toby (Michael Pitt). Toby is a homeless streetkid, sincere and maybe a little simple, but willing to work forfree, because he, perhaps alone among all the city's inhabitants,looks up to Les. But Toby is a handsome kid with a future, and hisname tells his story, too: "To be." One of the first to figure thatout is, appropriately, a casting director (Gina Gershon).

Les at first tells Toby to get lost. Then he takes mercy on himand allows him to be an unpaid assistant. He brings him home to hisapartment, a cubbyhole in a shabby building, and lets him sleep inthe closet. And he teaches him the ropes, which is maybe the firsttime Les has actually articulated them for himself.

Their story centers on the starlet du jour, K'Harma Leeds (AlisonLohman), which, if you know what karma means, suggests she willsometimes be a lead, although not a speller. She's blond, pretty,clueless, thinks Toby is cute, and is a sitting duck for Les. Sheeven invites Toby to a party; he asks if he can bring along afriend, and Les is such a bad strategist he actually starts takingpictures at the party instead of waiting to insinuate himself. He'slike a fisherman so eager to reel in the line that he can't wait tohook a fish.

This is the best DiCillo movie I've seen, and he's made some goodones ("Box of Moonlight," "The Real Blonde"). His second film was"Living in Oblivion" (1995), a generally well-reviewed story aboutthe making of an indie film (with Buscemi playing the director),which DiCillo insists is not about the making of his first film,"Johnny Suede" (1991), starring the young Brad Pitt. He insists thatover and over and over again.

What "Delirious" has is knowledge of overnight celebrities andthose who feed on them, and insights into the self-contempt of thefeeders. So much depends on Buscemi's performance here, and he haslived in the world of paparazzi targets, just as in "Interview," hewas able to draw on the experience of doing countless publicityinterviews. Buscemi plays Les not with disdain, as he might have,but with sympathy for a guy trying to get famous by taking photos ofthe famous; he is the flea on the flea. And Michael Pitt brings atouching innocence to his role as the flea on the flea on the flea.As for Alison Lohman, she just plain nails K'Harma, especially in amusic video scene.

The word paparazzi comes from the nickname Paparazzo for acelebrity photographer in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita," which didn'tmerely give us the name, but almost invented the concept.