Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Hollywood Ending (2002)

Director: Woody Allen

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Val Waxman (Allen) is so down on his movie-directing luck that when Hollywood offers the chance for a comeback, he's persuaded to take it, despite the fact that it means working for his ex (Leoni) and the studio head (Williams) who stole her away. Waxman's difficult anyway, but when something - jealousy, anger, or something else? - renders him psychosomatically blind, he has to try to behave himself while concealing his disability on set. Uncharacteristically broad, even coarse, in its comic tone, Allen's leaden movie-making satire also suffers from undue repetition, rampant illogicality (many gags operate as if Waxman were also deaf), lazy stereotyping (most notably of the young), poor pacing and excessively heavy-handed metaphor. Leoni and Williams do their best, but haven't a chance against the otherwise ubiquitous mugging and hand-me-down script.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Woody Allen

Producer: Letty Aronson

Cast: Woody Allen, Téa Leoni, George Hamilton, Treat Williams, Mark Rydell, Isaac Mizrahi, Debra Messing, Tiffani Thiessen full cast

Duration: 114 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.