Sunset Strip

The movie starts off with this prologue:

"In Hollywood in 1972 upon Sunset, man The Strip was packed every night. Not with tourists, but Us, the people in the backrooms trying to make it. We were all out there looking for something because we knew that LA was a goldmine and that your life could change in 24hrs and thats why we came here."

The movie takes place within a 24hr period, giving insight into the lives of those trying to "make it". For such a short period, the viewer gets an awful lot of character development. One of the many things that makes this movie good is how one can relate to the characters, the realism. The soundtrack is also really well done, it totally sets the mood for each moment and has a tendancy to carry the viewer to where they are supposed to be.

I found the acting to be believable, and was glad to see some faces I recognized for other movies. I would suggest anyone who is looking for a good movie check this out.

Well its like this, all I needed to read on the back of the box was "if you like Boogie Nights, you will love this"...NOT. What an excellent idea for a movie, 70's Hollywood club scene and the people trying to break into the biz....to bad it never delivered. Oh and by the way...it says it has a great 70's sound track playing through out? I think I recognized one song.

Although I usually stay away from renting straight-to-video movies, I was curious to see how they created early '70s L.A. on that famous Strip(BTW, for a great account of the Sunset Strip and the owners of the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, check out the article in the Fall 2000 "music issue" of Vanity Fair.) Unfortunately, a hastily paced "24 hours in the life of" timeline and paper-thin characters make it a pretty lightweight, almost amateurish affair.

As far as creating the early '70s via clothing and hairstyles, it's a mixed bag, with more than half of the cast looking more like "year 2000 youths" wearing retro clothing. The Jared Leto character is an exception, as is the "Christine" character w/ the long dark hair(why does she disappear midway through the movie, btw?)

Adam Goldberg's character just looks ridiculous, kind of like the "Disco Stu" character from "The Simpsons." The costume designs from "Boogie Nights" and "Almost Famous" were a lot better. Since the structure of the film was "A day in the life of..." the filmmakers seemed to rush through the day and night without adding any depth to the characters. I wound up either not caring about the characters(the young guitarist, the fashion designer, the BLAND photographer who is color blind), or wanting to know more about others(Jared Leto's character, the cranky songwriter.) The ending texts at the end of the film that lets everybody know what happened to each character seemed like a quick wrap-up and was utimately unsatisfying.

Altman's "Nashville" and P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia" did a lot better with the day-in-the-life concept. Rent those movies instead, as well as "Boogie Nights", and "Almost Famous." You'll get a better "retro culture" fix from them(well, except for "Magnolia": that film is set in 1999. But I digress.....) BoojiBoy

I'm not very interested in whether this film correctly portrays life as it actually was or is among the LA hopefuls or in whether the clothes or music are authentic. These issues seem to me to be superficial. As a story it is very, very good and is superbly acted by all the main characters. It is quirky in an interesting way. Anna Friel turns in a great performance as do several of the others. It should have had a wider release - I would give it a much higher rating than many of the banal films which become "hits" these days.

This is a fun, quirky, magnetic little movie about trying to make it in the 1970's rock scene amidst L.A.'s famed Sunset Strip District. It stays away from some of the heavier issues going on in the 70's, but I found that the trip it does bring us on is unique enough and real enough to play as good film making. Nick Stahl is believable in the rock n roll wannabe roll, and Leto is scene stealing as the STAR.

Although it doesn't have the heart of an Almost Famous or the dirt of a Boogie Nights, it meets both films halfway and entertains.