‘Seduced and Abandoned,’ TV review

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Director James Toback and actor Alec Baldwin at the ‘Seduced and Abandoned’ premiere at Time Warner Center on Thursday

In a perfect world, “Seduced and Abandoned” might have told us why it’s so hard for grownups to find anything they want to see at the movies these days.

Alas, while it flirts with that question and answer, in the end it plays a little too much like a home movie for the film industry.

Shot over 12 days at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, “Seduced and Abandoned” follows Alec Baldwin and director James Toback on their quest to secure financial backing for a new film.

That film would star Baldwin and Neve Campbell in a vaguely outlined story referencing contemporary politics, while harking back to the steamy and controversial 1971 Marlon Brando film “Last Tango In Paris.”

It’s not a pitch, frankly, that’s likely to make anyone immediately scribble a $50 million check. It does set the table for a discussion of what potential backers really want.

The answer is hardly surprising. Investors want “bankability,” the assurance from a surefire concept or stars who are attention-getting enough to cut through the entertainment clutter and lure people to theaters.

Baldwin and Toback talk to famous directors, actors and entrepreneurs, then lament how hard it has become to finance a human drama rather than a comic book-inspired superhero action flick.

It’s all done in a tone of subtly absurdist humor, which is fine but wearing. While explanations of international marketability and aftermarket products may fascinate Hollywood, they soon become white noise.

Ironically, the failure of the financing mission gives “Seduced and Abandoned” a sharper edge.

But in the end, that edge will probably be of more interest to Baldwin, Toback and the film biz than to a civilian, who mostly wants to know why she can’t find a decent rom-com.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com