Hollywood Ending on DVD

Woody Allen takes on the Hollywood establishment in this romantic comedy about a movie director given one last chance to redeem himself professionally.

Of course it’s about a lot more than that, too, but that’s the gist.

Allen is Val Waxman, a once great director fallen on hard times personally and professionally - especially professionally. He’s now getting fired from shooting small time commercials instead of big time films - but his ex-wife (terrifically played by Tea Leoni), who's now a studio exective, has come upon a script that’s perfect for him and lobbies hard to have him hired to helm the production.

It takes a lot of lobbying, too, especially since the studio boss (Treat Williams) is also her fiancé and he’s more than familiar with the professional and personal pasts of Waxman and Ellie (Leoni).

But he gives Waxman the chance, and it looks as if everything’s going to work out fine until Waxman gets a psychosomatic case of blindness that threatens to destroy the opportunity for a comeback.

So he pretends he can still see and stumbles his way through the production, in the process filming an incoherent mishmash of a movie that no one can understand.

It all works out fine in the end, of course, but in the meantime we’re treated to a series of comic situations that are classic Woody Allen as the neurotic director - and the neurotic or just plain shallow people around him - stumble through life, love, and work.

Hollywood Ending is an appropriate title for a film that not only has a Hollywood ending, but which sends up the movie industry and its movers and shakers (and hangers on) hilariously. Allen, who’s basically a Hollywood outsider who made it on his own terms, has written the kind of skewering we haven’t seen since the likes of Blake Edwards’ S.O.B.

The performances are delicious, from Allen’s feigned blindness (he’s a better actor than given credit for, even though his characters have broad similarities) to George Hamilton hanging around doing, well, we’re not really sure what he does. And Leoni, as mentioned, is terrific. Also along for the ride are Tiffany Thiessen and Debra Messing as star wannabes, and actor/director Mark Rydell as Waxman’s agent.

The DVD’s pretty good, too, though we wish Allen would adopt surround sound (or at least stereo!) for his films. Still, while the audio is merely monaural, it’s very good monaural and this takes away some of the sting for home theater snobs.

The picture is offered in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, and it’s terrific. The edges are sharp and clean with bright and rich colors - especially in the yellowish-tinged outdoor shots.

Alas, extras are few and far between. You get some decent production notes and cast/crew bios, but other than that all Dreamworks has included is the theatrical trailer.

Still, this is a delightful (and undoubtedly well-deserved) swipe at Hollywood from a master filmmaker who has never allowed himself to be swallowed into the scene he lampoons.

Hollywood Ending, from Dreamworks Home Video
112 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital mono
Starring Woody Allen, Tea Leoni, Treat Williams, Mark Rydell, George Hamilton, Debra Messing, Tiffani Thiessen
Produced by Letty Aronson
Written and Directed by Woody Allen

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