Hollywood Ending

Hollywood Ending
by Woody Allen

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Movie Reviews of Hollywood Ending

Movie Review: Woodman is Back in Full Throttle
Summary: 5 Stars

(***1/2)
out of ****
Rated PG-13

Each year audiences are treated with a visit from something from another time, a nostalgic piece of comic heaven. Last year it was the mediocre "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," this year it is the full-blown genuine comedy "Hollywood Ending". I hadn't laughed so hard and so genuine since "Annie Hall", Woody Allen's 1977 masterpiece. "Hollywood Ending" is no masterpiece, but if you're a lover of true comic timing and the styling of such comedians as Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx and Bob Hope, you will not only love this film, but you will, inevitably, love Woody Allen.
I attended this film on opening night, May 3rd, in Lawrence, Kansas, for Topeka Kansas seems to be more focused on block-busting adventures such as "Spider-Man." I went to see it with three Woody Allen fans, two of them long- time fans (one them told me their first affair with Woody Allen in seventh grade when they saw "What's New Pussycat") and one barely over a year old. Yet, all of us were giddy with excitement at what we were about to be presented with.
"Hollywood Ending" tells the story of Val Waxman (Woody Allen) a hypochondriac artistic filmmaker who, although in the 70's and 80's won Oscars, is now filming deodorant commercials in Canada. His ex-wife, Ellie (Tea Leoni), who left him for studio executive Hal Yeager (Treat Williams), has gotten him a job shooting a remake of the 1953 film noir "The City That Never Sleeps." But days before shooting begins Val goes psychosomatically blind, and his agent, Al (Mark Rydell) tries to cover it up, creating surreal comedy.
The premise is simple, and goofy, yet Allen's intellectual sense of humor will keep people whose vocabulary does not consist of "morose" out of the theatre. Allen's films aren't made for a wide audience; they're made for the people who truly love this type of humor. In one scene in which Val is trying to cover up that he is blind while he is having a meeting with Hal Yeager, he prances around the screen like Charlie Chaplin. I have to say I haven't seen Woody this physical since his 1973 ode to silent film, "Sleeper." Allen's films always parallel situations in his real life. Like the fact that he always likes to hire foreign cinematographers, or that he wants to shoot the film entirely in black and white, or that the only place to shoot it is in the streets of New York City. In this film Woody makes New York brilliantly beautiful and once again portrays his love affair with the city.

The performances were wonderful as well. Woody Allen has never been so anxious and nervous, his nervous tics radiate the screen and energize the audience. And he hasn't had a leading lady that has done so much for the film like Tea Leoni does since, perhaps, Diane Keaton. Barney Cheng stars as the translator for the Chinese cinematographer in the first half of the film, and when paired with Allen's character is was comic heaven. I was impressed by Debra Messing and her stomach, along with her dizty, yet truthfully, comedic performance as Val's live-in girlfriend. Though, as I have stated, some performances were top-notch, other's slightly above mediocre. Treat Williams' performance was nothing amazing, neither was Tiffany Thiessen (remember Kelly from "Saved by The Bell"?) and George Hamilton just stood there with his golf club and played what he plays best...himself...The Tan Man.

Woody Allen is still the master of comedy, and, from what I can see, is the only one around still doing this kind of stuff. From his introspective films of the eighties ("Hannah and Her Sisters" "Crimes and Misdemeanors") to his mirth filled comedies of the mid-nineties ("Mighty Aphrodite" "Everyone Says I Love You") to his more hard-edged, cynical films of the late-nineties ("Deconstructing Harry" "Celebrity"), Allen has proved with this film, and his last two ("Small Time Crooks", "Curse of the Jade Scorpion) that he still has that perfect comic timing he had twenty-five years ago. This was an amazing film with a wonderful ending that will have you chuckling days after you leave the theatre.

And if you didn't have faith in the Woodman, he's already working on his next film, shooting will begin May 13th in New York City. His new film stars Glenn Close, Danny DeVito, Jason Biggs, Jimmy Fallon, Christina Ricci and, of course, Woody Allen.

So viewers...enjoy.

Summary of Hollywood Ending