Where Sex Is Just Part of the Act ‘The Money Shot,’ by Neil LaBute, Satirizes Hollywood

Jokes about the stupidity of particular groups of people are generally a no-go in these days of political correctness. But it is still open season on one unfortunate subset of humanity. I don’t mean members of Congress, who are beyond a joke, or fashion models, who are suddenly being treated with aspirational respect. No, I’m talking about Hollywood actors, who have been serving as fish-in-barrel rifle practice at least since movies learned to talk. So let’s get started: How many Hollywood actors does it take to screw in a light bulb? Neil LaBute neither poses nor answers that question in The Money Shot, his raunchy new sitcom of a play that opened on Monday night at the Lucille Lortel Theater in an MCC Theater production. But if he did, I’m sure he’d have a body slam of a punch line. As it is, he and the director, Terry Kinney, manage to stretch what is essentially a single dumb movie star joke into 100 minutes of arduous, repetitive and occasionally hilarious stage time.