Review: Roger Moore's son tries to win an Oscar in cheeky documentary 'And the Winner Isn't'

Review: Roger Moore’s son tries to win an Oscar in cheeky documentary ‘And the Winner Isn’t’

By Gary Goldstein

Dec. 7, 2017 1:45 PM PT

How do you win an Oscar? As Geoffrey Moore, son of the late actor Roger Moore, recently discovered, there are no easy answers, despite his hopes to the contrary. This and other Tinseltown tidbits are covered in the diverting, oddly candid, often satirical documentary “And the Winner Isn’t.”

Directed and shot by Nik Panic, this curio tracks Moore’s bumbling learning curve over the six or so months he and 18-year-old producer-daughter Ambra spent in Los Angeles earlier this year. Moore’s goal: to make a feature film — any kind, as he freely admits — that he could exhibit in a theater, thus qualifying it for Academy Award consideration. This is that film.

For the record:

1:45 p.m. Dec. 7, 2017The photo caption in an earlier version of this review misidentified Geoffrey Moore and Nigel Martinez.

His aim is inspired by “U N I” (“You and I”), a “We Are the World”-type song Moore wrote with Nigel Martinez to raise money for UNICEF, for which Moore’s dad was a longtime goodwill ambassador. Moore figures if the tune can win an original song Oscar, the publicity would help boost charitable donations.

The privileged Moore amusingly visits his celebrity contacts (Joan Collins, Michael Caine, Stefanie Powers and many more), to research the Oscar game and to assemble a roster of familiar faces to appear in a “U N I” music video.

Roger Moore’s death in May during Geoffrey’s L.A. stay prompts a tender segue about the elder Moore featuring captivating, star-studded home movie footage.

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