Mayor Of The Sunset Strip (15)

During his late '70s pomp, rock impresario Rodney Bingenheimer was the first name on every guest list in Los Angeles. Close friend of David Bowie and sometime radio DJ, he spent his formative years basking in the reflected glory of his A-list pals. Director George Hickenlooper takes the story of Bingenheimer's rise from "the kid at school that everyone beat up" to self-styled `Mayor of Sunset Strip', and uses it as the basis of a compelling essay on the perils of living on borrowed fame.

Boasting an exhaustive list of contributors - Bowie, Cher, Jagger and others allow their names to be dropped by this indefatigable groupie - Hickenlooper's film is only undermined by its muddy final third. Luckily it rouses itself for its suitably downbeat finale, Bingenheimer treating his impending C-list status as though it were a terminal disease. ""Fame"," as Bowie once sang, ""What you get is no tomorrow"." Quite.

Print