He’s Way More Famous Than You

He’s Way More Famous Than You is a self-parodying examination of celebrity and stardom, tracking the lengths a fading indie starlet takes to stake her claim in show business. It blends autobiography, fiction and farce with a number of actors playing themselves and other characters simultaneously.
Co-written by and starring Halley Feiffer, the film opens in a flashback to the 2005 world premiere of The Squid and the Whale—Noah Baumbach’s “cinematic masterpiece” (as we’re reminded by the onscreen titles). It’s the film that should have automatically opened the doors to fame and fortune for Feiffer, who played a small role in the film. She’s joined on the red carpet by one of The Squid and the Whale’s leads, Jesse Eisenberg, who in turn, plays a small, but pivotal character in He’s Way More Famous Than You.
In a study in contrasts, it’s Eisenberg’s career trajectory that’s eluded Feiffer. While he’s gone on to star in The Social Network and Zombieland among other films, she’s been mostly relegated to supporting characters or guest roles on episodic television. As the film-within-a-film unfolds, we understand why.
Feiffer’s developed a nasty Moët for breakfast, beer for lunch and vodka for dinner habit in the seven years after The Squid and the Whale. She’s self-centered and irksome, and both her boyfriend and her agent drop her posthaste. Desperate to right her career path, Feiffer steals the script idea that she and her ex-boyfriend were co-writing and enlists her brother, Ryan (Ryan Spahn), and her brother’s partner (Michael Urie) to co-star in and direct (respectively) her comeback.
In a meta-twist, Urie—referred to throughout the film as “that gay guy from Ugly Betty”—also directs He’s Way More Famous Than You. It’s Urie who exasperatedly plays the voice of reason to Feiffer’s on- and off-camera follies.