"Mistress" is sort of a low-budget version of "The Player," though its development preceded that film and its story focuses on the dregs of Hollywood filmmaking rather than the high-rolling movers and shakers.
The story has a down-on-his-luck filmmaker (Robert Wuhl) hearing from an equally desperate producer (Martin Landau) about an old, nearly forgotten screenplay he once wrote. Landau has three investors who want to make a movie, and he picks Wuhl's script at random without reading it. Wuhl insists on directing, Landau agrees and soon they are meeting with the potential investors (Eli Wallach, Danny Aiello, Robert De Niro), each of whom wants to put his girlfriend into the movie.
Unfortunately, Wuhl's script has no parts for these women, so a young hotshot screenwriting wannabe (Jace Alexander), whose father is an Oscar-winning scriptor, changes Wuhl's storyline to accommodate them.
Expected complications ensue, but sometimes they do not take us down the expected road. And though director Barry Primus (an actor in the current "Night and the City") sometimes lets the proceedings become flabby and sluggish, the energetic cast and the wealth of comic possibilities that are achieved make for an enjoyable romp.
"Mistress" is rated R for profanity and vulgarity, with some sexual content (implied, not shown).