The Hollywood Complex

I've caught bits and pieces of this movie over the last few months, and finally watched it in it's entirety. I'm not sure if it was the filmmakers goal to show how screwed up Hollywood is or not, I got the sense they felt the people they were filming should be taken seriously, but the egocentric, scam laced, delusional lifestyles of these people made me glad I've never had any interest to pursue any sort of dreams of fame.

I felt sympathy for the kids, as they were being pushed into something most obviously didn't want to do, manipulated by nightmare mothers, exploited by scam artist agents, and insincere casting directors. I could feel the awkwardness as the kids simply repeated what their mothers told them to say about things like why they wanted to be actors & actresses.

Every scene alternated as an example of how everyone in the Hollywood machine was trying scam someone else out of their piece of the pie, and these parents willingness to throw all their money away on these scams in their displaced desires. Watching these parents make their children jump through hoops like trained seals was surreal.

The entire movie was an example of poor parenting and the train wrecks that people can be. The scenes that stood out for me was the BS new- agey exercises for the kids to "feel great" about themselves, the fat tacky mother talking about getting out of their one stop light Missouri town and talking about how she use to drink all the time, the agent that repeated the same spiel with different girls, the self proclaimed "movie star" Tami Erin's name dropping (even though she's only had 4 credits to her name), and the one mother that joined Scientology to network with the stars.

There was value to watching this movie, but based on the "success stories" at the end of the movie, I'm not sure the filmmakers realized what message non-Hollywood types would take from it.

Caught this movie on Netflix, and I had to watch most of it through my hands because it is so humiliating for everyone involved. The movie revolves around an apartment complex in LA that kids and their parents stay in while the networks cast new TV pilots.

The movie follows a group of kids and their parents as they go on auditions, meet casting agents, and directors, and try to find jobs. The kids seem very nice, but it is sad that 99.9% of the people going to Hollywood to pursue their (or their parents?) dreams of stardom will wind up with nothing to show for all of the THOUSANDS of dollars spent, months away from family and friends, scams suffered, and humiliation of constant rejections. The whole underbelly of the Hollywood machine is open to see, and it is not pretty. No one has the guts to tell these parents that their little boy or girl is just not going to make it, as they see just another sucker they can wring a few dollars from. "You need different head shots" is a familiar refrain (Neglecting to tell you that the photographer of those head shots is their husband)

The saddest thing is that these aren't kids in the normal sense, they have been taken over by their overriding ambition to be "somebody" Instead of living a normal childhood, they are already sounding, and resembling like slick adults. It is sad to watch this movie and think of all the wasted time and money, but even sadder to think of the wasted youth. Highly recommended

It is incredibly difficult to rate something with so much dysfunctional behavior with such a good rating but here we are.

This film should be must-see viewing for anyone wanting to drag their child(ren) to Hollywood in the hopes of 'making it.'

Watching these parents behaving so incredibly narcissistically, it really isn't hard to see why the kids take on the same pathological patterns.

Either kids have it or they don't, and the ones that do are the ones who work (very sporadically) in the industry, then grow up to wonder where the cameras went and why no one loves them anymore.

There are incredibly small numbers of kids that make it to that desired level, and fewer that find regular work, and even less who come out of this mess unscathed.

Given all that we now know about Hollywood and their canal of pedophiles/groomers/predators, I can't for the life of me understand anyone willfully dragging their child into this mess, but I'm quite certain they still do because 'not my child!' syndrome is still pervasive.

Whatever is going on out there now, this should still be mandatory viewing for how not to behave and what not to do/say.

A well-done, somewhat comical (but mostly disturbing) documentary on what goes on behind the scenes.

"The Hollywood Complex" follows several families who live in a strange apartment complex in the Hollywood area. I say it's strange because it is made up of families who think their child will become a star--and the management host a variety of events geared towards these kids. These families have allowed the filmmakers access to their lives--to follow them and show their quest for fame.

This is a hard film for me to watch. I agree with the previous reviewer that children should NOT be working and should be allowed to be kids. And so, seeing these nutty and selfish parents pushing their kids or allowing their kids to become obsessed with stardom really irritated me. While I wasn't as irked as I would have been if these had been child beauty pageant contestants, they aren't a whole lot different. Don't these folks have any values or life aside from pushing their kids to become actors?! Look at what they give up in search of this dream. And, how many of these kids really want stardom and how many are just pushed into it by insane parents? The film has many strange yet fascinating moments. A few that stood out for me included:

One family rummaging through trash can for aluminum cans to recycle in order to afford to live out their dream of stardom--as they can barely afford this lifestyle.

Tami Erin--a 38 year-old star with only five IMDb credits. She portrays herself as a great star (her big claim to fame was playing one of the Pippi Longstockings) and talks about her acting school or some such nonsense.

"Crying on Cue Workshop". This is just too amazing to put into words.

Cory Feldman at awards ceremony for child actors! No one seems to see the irony of this even though Feldman is the poster child for the screwed up child actor.

One child acting school touts Brittany Murphy as an alumnus. Murphy died recently from a combination of things--including drugs--at age 32. Sad and VERY ironic.

Families leaving fathers and other siblings back East for months or years at a time.

One mother dabbling in Scientology by taking classes, as it might give them an edge on getting closer to the Hollywood elite!

One lady who insists her child will NOT compromise their values. Later, however, the kid does a reading for a cursing hermaphrodite. The lines the man at the audition reads are SICK--and the man talks about hacking off a person's manhood to this child.

Scams, scams, scams--with talent agencies and photographers making HUGE promises to untalented and unattractive kids.

I know these comments seem harsh, but I just couldn't help think that none of these kids needed to be doing this---they should just be kids. The filmmakers chose, quite wisely, not to narrate or comment on all this--just showing everything and letting the viewer make up their own minds--which, I assume, are about as negative towards these folks as I am. Well made and fascinating--like a very nasty train wreck that I just couldn't stop myself from watching.

Having been in show business myself, I watched this documentary about kids coming out to LA to be stars with interest.

I do believe a couple of the parents were sincere about wanting a different life for their child, and I do believe that some of the kids were interested in acting. There is also the delusional group, and the kids who probably don't want it as much as their parents.

I can understand -- I really can -- getting an enormous opportunity like a feature film or a series or a tour of a show and having to be separated from your family in order to take advantage of it. I can understand maybe auditioning for a month and then going back home. I can understand feeling like, well, at least you can say you came out here and tried, you'll never be able to say, I should have tried it.

But I can't understand coming out to Hollywood on a wing and prayer and shelling out $5000 a month for months so your kid can do auditions in a vastly overcrowded and competitive market and, frankly, be scammed by agents and their photographer husbands and discounted acting classes. We saw a lot of that in this documentary.

To me the parents were naive, and Los Angeles isn't where you come to make it; you make it first and then come to LA or NY. You do local theater, local modeling, local commercials, build a portfolio and then give the big cities a go. There is no point in going if you don't do your research - who are the bad agents, who are the scam artists, what should you avoid.

Show business today is about agents and casting directors. Gone are the days when you actually met with a producer. Everybody has a class, a school - it's one thing if you're an adult and want to put up with all that heartache, it's another if you're a kid. There's more to life.

There is nothing wrong with a dream - and in going through the cast list on IMDb, some of these kids did end up doing commercials, TV, and film, and good for them. Hey, Hillary Swank and her mother lived in a car; Jim Carrey and his entire family lived in a van.

One actor talked about friends of his who have been in the business for years saying, "It's going to happen." His attitude is, "No, it isn't." The question is, what do they want to happen? Stardom? A chance to work every so often? Can they be happy NOW with whatever they're doing? Can they be happy doing showcases and extra work? It's up to the individual.

I was troubled watching this documentary because I kept asking myself when you know it's time to quit. In this case, that was up to the parents, and most didn't have realistic notions.

A child, a teen, has to grow up and decide if they want to make these sacrifices for themselves. When it's left in other hands, that can be a problem.