Hacks

There's an old maxim that movies about making movies never work and that may very well apply to this one about making TV shows. It's the type of movie where the writer sat around struggling for ideas and said, "I know, I'll write a movie about a writer struggling for ideas." I don't want to sound too dismissive. There's a bit of fun living vicariously in the world of these creative types strolling the palm-lined streets and striving for inspiration, but it just doesn't go anywhere. For example, there is a Hitchcockian 'Rear Window'-type mystery set up at the beginning that is abandoned half way through the movie with no payoff, and even the little "twist" at the end seems arbitrary and added on just to wrap up the story. Despite the interesting cast, it all comes down to a group of middle-aged guys fighting for something of no consequence. It might be interesting to watch people running around a colorful milieu like Hollywood, but if they have nothing interesting to say and their struggle doesn't touch upon some universal themes or real emotions, why bother?

The script of Gary Rosen is the real star of this satiric depth-charge with Hollywood as the prime target, obviously written from the inside by Someone Who Knows. A genuine sleeper, it boasts a boss cast adept at Altmanesque overlapping dialogue: Stephen Rea and the underrated Illeana Douglas. Here's a gem that slipped between the cracks with a plot with more twists than a pretzel.

Two scriptwriters are talking privately (they think) while, from across a coffee shop, an agent reads their lips, each speaker in turn, like HAL eavesdropping in "2001"... this is a movie about TV professionals trying to stay afloat as they feed the medium's insatiable appetite for material "dark... but not too dark... how dark depends on whether we get Sunday at 7 or Thursday at 10." Either you like this kind of insider-y stuff or you don't--I confess I have a weakness for it. And Illeana Douglas can do absolutely no wrong.

"The Big Twist" was a good title- recently shown on HBO. This is well-constructed, creative comedy, that doesn't rely on slapstick.

Stephen Rea and Ileana Douglas are very good (she was also excellent in "Ghost World") John Ritter and Dave Foley hysterical- as two desperate TV writers, trying to come up with a new gimmick.Wish Ritter got better film offers in his short career- instead of films like Kindergarten Cop or whatever it was called.

There are some funny scenes- where they have to take a bus in LA- and remark how Hollywood used to be glamorous, now it looks like Guatemala.

There are also scenes with Douglas at the Château Marmont- Ryan O'Neal portrays Rea's psychiatrist. Lisa Kudrow and Jason Priestley also have bit parts. Some scenes work better than others, all in all this is a decent comedy that is worth a try.

I love this movie. The dialogue, the situations, the acting, the ensemble cast, are all top-rate. I particularly enjoy the scenes of writing partners trying to come up with TV story lines, and the ridiculous ideas they come up with. In addition to the main cast, there are several excellent actors in smaller parts, such as Tom Arnold as the sleazy double-dealing Hollywood agent, Ryan O'Neal as the psychiatrist to the stars, and Lisa Kudrow as the cynical insomniac script reader. If you like movies about the inside business of Hollywood, you'll love this one. If you like good ensemble acting, great dialogue, and a comedic story line that does not involve murder or some other gratuitous violence, you will like this movie.