“Shahs of Sunset” will return for its second season Dec. 2.
The Bravo series again will chronicle the lives of young, wealthy Persian-American friends living in Beverly Hills. The Ryan Seacrest-produced reality series, which got off to a slow start in terms of ratings, was able to generate momentum over the course of its first season last spring.
There's an unusual amount of nakedness in this adoring, and surprisingly endearing, chronicle of 1980s pop star Rick Springfield ("Jessie's Girl").
And no, that's not a reference to Springfield's oft-bare chest (when you look this good at 63, it's understandable that you'd want to show off a little).
More notably, it's the intense vulnerability of his fans - who still see their idol as a sort of savior - that differentiates this career-booster from an average "Behind the Music" special.
What undermines it, however, is a complete reluctance to, well, go behind the music. We don't know where he's been all these years, how his family feels about him being a surrogate father/husband to strangers, or why he needs such an intimate connection with so many people himself-all crucial elements flatly ignored.
As seen through the eyes of his devotees (very evidently including director Sylvia Caminer), Springfield has transformed himself from an arrogant celebrity into an extraordinarily generous and humble guy.
How'd he get that way? You'll have to buy the memoir he pitches to find out.
In fact, most of the movie entertains without actually enlightening, as when fellow 80s touchstone Corey Feldman shows up to "commiserate with [Rick's] burdens." One suspects Feldman is already busy exploring his own documentary options.
Max Landis, the screenwriter behind this year's hit "found footage" tale, Chronicle, signed on back in March to provide a screenplay for a sequel. Today, The Playlist reports that 20th Century Fox isn't entirely satisfied with Landis' take. The news arrives, somewhat surprisingly, from the screenwriter's own father, filmmaker John Landis. 