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Silent Movie

Mel Funn, a once-great Hollywood film director, is now recovering from a drinking problem and down on his luck. He and his sidekicks, Marty Eggs and Dom Bell, want to make the first silent movie in 40 years and Funn pitches the idea to the chief of Big Picture Studios. The chief rejects the idea at first but Funn convinces him that if he can get Hollywood's biggest stars to be in the film, it could save the studio from a takeover by New York conglomerate Engulf & Devour.

Funn, Eggs and Bell proceed to recruit various stars for the film. They surprise Burt Reynolds in his shower and revisit his mansion in disguise. They recruit James Caan filming on location, following slapstick fumbling in an unstable dressing room trailer. They find Liza Minnelli at the studio commissary, where she eagerly agrees to be in the film. They recruit Anne Bancroft by disguising themselves as nightclub Flamenco dancers. While visiting the ailing studio chief in the hospital, Funn phones mime artist Marcel Marceau, who responds in French with the only spoken word in the film: a resounding Non! Bell asks, "What did he say?" Funn responds, "I don't know. I don't speak French!" They see Paul Newman on the hospital grounds and sign him to the film after a wild electric-wheelchair chase.

In the course of their search for stars, the trio have a number of brief misadventures, including a mix-up between a seeing-eye dog and an untrained look-alike, several (mostly unsuccessful) efforts by Eggs to approach various women and a Coca-Cola vending machine that launches cans like grenades.

Engulf & Devour learn of the project and try to sabotage it by sending voluptuous nightclub sensation Vilma Kaplan to seduce Funn. He falls for her but returns to drinking when he learns that she was part of a scheme. He buys a huge bottle of liquor and drinks himself into a stupor, surrounded by fellow "winos". Kaplan has genuinely fallen for Funn and refused Engulf & Devour's money; she helps Eggs and Bell find him and restore him to sobriety.

The film is completed but the only copy is stolen by Engulf & Devour just before its theatrical premiere. Kaplan stalls the audience with her nightclub act, while Funn, Eggs and Bell successfully steal the film back. They are cornered by Engulf & Devour's thuggish executives but use the Coke machine they encountered earlier to attack and subdue them with exploding cans. Lacking a separate spool to rewind the film, Eggs winds the film around his own body and upon returning to the theater he has to be rushed to the projection booth to show it.

The film is a huge success with the audience, which erupts with over-the-top applause. The studio is saved and Funn, Eggs, Bell, Kaplan and Chief celebrate, as an onscreen caption identifies the film as a "true story".