Hollywood Ending Movie Review 2002

Allen continues two recent disturbing trends: making mediocre comedies, and making creepy casting choices when picking his female leads. This time he's Val Waxman, a a down-on-his-luck, nuerotic director about ten years past his prime with a hot ex-wife, Ellie (Leoni) who's engaged to a smarmy studio head (Williams). He's also managed to snag a hot dim-bulb wannabe-actress girlfriend (Messing). When Ellie uses her connections to get Val a job directing an "Ode to New York" pic, his hypochodriac tendencies go into haywire and he goes blind. Woody's made some great comedies in the past, and if this was 10-15 years ago, this one might've been great, too. But his overwhelmingly annoying screen persona, and the missed execution of some pretty good setups, this one goes to the forgettable file. Leoni, Williams, and Rydell do well with what they're given.

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 114 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Showbiz Comedies, Behind the Scenes, Blindness

Screenplay

Woody Allen

Cast

Woody Allen, Tea Leoni, Treat Williams, Debra Messing, George Hamilton, Tiffani(-Amber) Thiessen, Mark Rydell, Isaac Mizrahi, Marian Seldes, Peter Gerety, Greg Mottola, Mark Webber, Lu Yu, Barney Cheng, Jodie Markell

Cinematography

Wedigo von Schultzendorff

Director

Woody Allen

Other

Gary Alper, Alisa Lepselter, Tom Warren, Melissa Toth, Santo Loquasto

Producer

Letty Aronson, Gravier Productions, Perdido, Dreamworks Pictures