| Adopted | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Pauly Shore |
| Produced by | Sam Hendrikse Ann Roberts Pauly Shore |
| Written by | Pauly Shore |
| Starring | Pauly Shore |
| Distributed by | Phase 4 Films |
| Release date(s) | 2009 |
| Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Adopted is a 2009 American independent film starring comedian Pauly Shore. It is a mockumentary "in which [Pauly] plays himself going to Africa to adopt a child, à la Madonna and Angelina Jolie."[1] The film marks Shore's third turn as a writer, director, and producer.
Contents |
According to Dan Persons of The Huffington Post,[2]
Pauly follows in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie and Madonna, travelling to South Africa to snag himself one of those highly coveted, third-world orphans. If that doesn't sound to you like a particularly good idea, well, you'd be right: The film puts the comedian on a fast-track to international incident, showing him blundering through the adoption process by, amongst other faux pas, greeting one kid Jacko-style in facemask and rubber gloves, abandoning another on a mountaintop in order to chase after a hot local and, most death-defying of all, baiting the most fearsome of world powers by trying to crash the Oprah school.—Dan Persons, The Huffington Post, June 15, 2010
The film was shot in South Africa in 2007 while Pauly Shore had been visiting the country.[3] The idea for the film had come to him during the same visit and he had his crew members flown in to shoot the film. He "storyboarded the entire film in his hotel room, and a casting agent sent along a few “orphans” for the shoot." Adopted itself was then filmed within a period of only a few weeks.[4]
Pauly Shore claimed, in 2009, that Sacha Baron Cohen's film, Brüno, was "stolen from his 'mockumentary'", as the film Brüno had started production after the start of production for Adopted and also featured the main character adopting a child from a Third World nation.[5]
Pauly Shore stated to Fox News at the Comic Con Convention in July 2010 that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were "not too happy that I was making fun of them adopting children in Africa. But it's better they come after me than Oprah."[6]