Review of Hollywood Ending (2002) by Stanley K — 07 Mar 2009

Woody Allen's incredibly prolific body of work certainly varies in quality, but I think this is the only genuinely not-very-good movie I've seen from him (and I've seen a good 75% of his 40ish movies).

Much of the dialogue falls flat, many of the performances downright bad (the Chinese translator is particularly out of place--not bad, just someone who doesn't belong anywhere near a Woody Allen film), and even much of the Hollywood in-speak somehow manages to seem like it doesn't what it's talking about a lot of the time (that said, there are some very funny autobiographical references--the bit at the end about the French is one of the highlights of the film).

In the midst of all this uninspired-ness, however, there are some great moments, and a handful of really beautiful, hilarious lines of dialogue so perfectly delivered that they make this still better than most Hollywood comedies.

And although the plot comes across as appalling contrived in execution, it's really a pretty wonderful premise--if it's one of Allen's worst screenplays, it's also one of his very best ideas for a screenplay.

The blindness is not just a cheap comedic device, but it really deeply connects with the existentialism that pervades Allen's work, and paves the way for the miracle of love that transforms the characters in some of his best films, and the romantic Hollywood ending of the title echoes the much more fully realized ending of "Hannah and Her Sisters"--"Hollywood Ending" may not hold a candle to that masterpiece, but it does have some of the elements that might have let it.

A lot of detractors complain that Woody Allen keeps remaking the same movies--well I, for one, would love to see him give a thorough reworking of this story, giving it all the depth and humor and power and loveliness that it deserves, and yet so rarely lives up to.