Cast: Woody Allen, George Hamilton, Téa Leoni, Debra Messing, Mark Rydell, Treat Williams
Director: Woody Allen
Producer: Letty Aronson
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Cinematography: Wedigo von Schultzendorff
U.S. Distributor: Dreamworks
It could be argued that a bad Woody Allen movie is better than a mediocre effort by many other directors, but, considering the kind of high-quality output attributable to Allen during his most fruitful and creative periods, it's depressing to sit through something as lackluster as Hollywood Ending. A forgettable comedy that shows no signs of inspiration, the film has its share of funny moments and amusing one-liners, but nothing that anyone will recall 15 minutes after leaving the theater. Hollywood Ending feels like the product of an obligation rather than a creative burst.
Sadly, Hollywood Ending fits seamlessly into Allen's recent spurt of flat efforts, which include titles like Celebrity, Small Time Crooks, and Curse of the Jade Scorpion. It's hard to believe that this is the same filmmaker who brought us gems like Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Manhattan. It is said that artists must evolve or die, and Allen appears perilously close to the latter. These days, every time he releases a movie, I hope for something that harkens back to his glory years, and am inevitably disappointed. In Hollywood Ending, even the humor has lost most of its bite. Allen showed more wit and a sharper edge during his Academy Awards monologue.
As always, Allen develops a story that, while primarily fictional, incorporates some of the facts and tabloid myths about the director's life. Here, he plays cinematic genius Val Waxman, the proud owner of two Oscars. These days, owing to a temperamental reputation, the best work Val can get is directing commercials. Then, out of the blue, along comes the script for The City that Never Sleeps. Val's ex-wife, Ellie (Téa Leoni), now a producer for Galaxy Pictures, decides this would be a perfect comeback picture for Val. Despite being a "raving, incompetent psychotic", Val is recognized as having "the streets of New York... in his marrow." So Ellie convinces her executive boyfriend, Hal (Treat Williams), to give Val a shot. Alas, all does not go smoothly on the $60 million picture. On the first day of production, Val comes down with a case of psychosomatic blindness, and, because he doesn't want to get fired, he has to pretend that he can still see. Hilarity - or what passes for it - ensues.
Hollywood Ending could perhaps be seen as Woody Allen's version of The Player. It takes quite a few jabs at Hollywood, the art of filmmaking, and the incomprehensibility of French taste. There are no sacred cows - Allen repeatedly pokes fun at his own image. (Then again, he has done that for his entire career.) The problem is, while all of this is fertile ground (even though it has been mined, with varying degrees of success, numerous times before), Allen never gets below the surface. The comedy is perfunctory and rarely worth more than a chuckle, and all of the attacks on the film industry come across as shallow and familiar. How many times have we been subjected to the Hollywood executive who's a Philistine? Or an agent with dubious ethics? Those, like many of Allen's other "insider" observations, are clichés. They may be accurate, but they're no longer interesting.
For the most part, the casting is effective. Allen, playing a variant of himself, is as comfortable in the role as ever. Téa Leoni is believable as the career-minded woman who still has a soft spot for Val. Treat Williams tries to develop Hal into more than a one-dimensional stooge. George Hamilton toys with his own off-screen image as a vain Galaxy executive, and Mark Rydell is Val's agent. The only example of miscasting is Debra Messing as Lori, Val's new girlfriend. Messing's performance is off. Admittedly, Lori is supposed to be vacuous, but the actress' approach is forced and unnatural, even when Lori is just doing "normal", domestic things. As a result, the character comes across as a caricature.
Since it's unfair to judge Allen by different standards than those I would use for any other filmmaker, I can offer this observation - while Hollywood Ending has too long of a running time and too few successful comic moments, it's not a creative black hole. As a satire of the filmmaking business, it is vastly inferior to movies like The Player and Living in Oblivion, but it nevertheless gets the point across. Still, the movie offers slim pickings for viewers, regardless of whether they're fans of Woody Allen or not. And I'm sure the French will love it.
© 2002 James Berardinelli