Bollywood Hero

Three-episode miniseries Bollywood Hero opens with ex-SNL and erstwhile Roxbury guy Chris Kattan in a meeting with his agent. He's fed up with his career as a goofball, frustrated by his new job as a comedy relief alien on a lowbrow sci-fi show and wants to become a leading man. He wants the types of roles that a young Harrison Ford was offered ― movies where he gets to "fight the bad guys and sleep with attractive women." Putting aside the unsavoury image of Chris Kattan having sex, this is a scene that raises many intriguing questions: does Kattan still have the clout to land a regular gig on a TV show? Does Kattan even still have an agent? Does Kattan's executive producer credit explain the show's delusional depiction of him as an in-demand comic actor or is director Ted Skillman a member of the Chris Kattan Fan Club? Look, I have no desire to sit here and poke fun at Kattan's stagnant career, but there are few things as pathetic as a satire that refuses to be honest about what it's satirizing. Backstage drama, romance and, yes, musical numbers ensue when Kattan accepts a lead role in a Bollywood production and Bollywood Hero inexplicably turns into a straight-up melodrama. If you think Chris Kattan's comedy is unsubtle, just wait until you get a load of his dramatic chops: more aggressive faux-sincerity than is doctor recommended. Cameos by Keanu Reeves and Andy Samberg score some mild chuckles, but this toothless, cheap, unreasonably padded (168 minutes!) vanity project might actually make you think fondly of Corky Romano. One big laugh, though: in the end, Kattan has a Sullivan's Travels epiphany that leading man stardom is not for him and that comedy is where his true talents lie. Too bad he's right about only one of those points. Extras are limited to deleted scenes; I never thought I'd say this, but I really wish there was a Chris Kattan commentary.