Hollywood North

From start to finish, this little flick about big time film making in 1979 Toronto is a riot. The cast is simply perfect. The dialouge "tongue in cheek". The angst and humor on high. Anyone interested in the Hollywood "machine", whether it be in California or with our northern neighbor will get a kick out of this satirical look at what happens behind the scene's when making a movie.



Though I did look at it as more a satire on the "Good Ole' Boys" club that is ever present in Hollywood and beyond. 8 out of 10, easily. Lots of fun, lots of laughs and Jennifer Tilly/Alan Bates/Fab Filippo are a GREAT one-two-three punch!

I rented this movie on DVD without knowing what to expect - and as I am about to study film-making in Canada of all places, I most certainly will bring this up in class.

The story, centered around the probably most unlucky film team in the history of film itself, is brilliantly written and the very talented actors manage to deliver every single pun on time.

If you simply couldn't laugh during "Hollywood North" I suggest seeing a psychiatrist right away - you might have serious issues.

Besides the wonderful script I also noticed the great chemistry between actors Deborah Kara Unger and Matthew Modine - where they really just acting? Jennifer Tilly (playing a hilariously bad actress) and Martin Landau, also delivered a very edgy, yet funny performance.

Great film, even better cast.

It's 1979. Newbie Toronto movie producer Bobby Myers (Matthew Modine) options a Canadian book hoping to make a Canadian movie based in Toronto. He's told to get an American movie star lead and heads off to Hollywood. It's Hollyweird and he's forced to compromise at every turn.

This is a movie about 70's Hollywood and the inferior complex in Toronto. This is a moment in time as the film industry morphs into something different in the 80's. This is trying to be a satire. The problem is that it's not actually funny. It's a little tiresome. The mockumentary isn't actually interesting. Modine is a functional movie lead. In a way, he's the American lead in a movie about Canadian film industry. It's meta but it's not funny and therefore it's not compelling. For a comedy, there are few comedians here. At best, there are a couple of comedic actors. It's all rather flat.

Hollywood North's storyline was good (A producer buys the film rights of a

famous Canadian novel known as "Latern Moon" and plans the production, but

everything doesn't go according to plan when Hollywood gets involved and the

documentary filmmaker catches the whole debacle of film.) and the film had

much potential, but most of the acting lacked depth. Hence, the characters were not believable and flat. Unfortunately, they spent a lot of money making a film that did not make very much money in he end. The actor in it that did a great job was Kim Coates.

Hollywood North is a satirical look at the time in Canadian film history when the Canadian government offered huge tax breaks for films made in Canada. Most of the time it was treated as a tax shelter or a cheap way to get American films made. For example, Porky's came out of it. Anyways Matthew Modine plays a novice producer who wants to make an adaptation of a beloved Canadian novel. However, in order to get the money he needs a American name star. He gets a loose cannon and learns he has to compromise to the point where the film no longer resembles the book it was originally based on. It plays well in Canada but may not be understood outside of the Great White North. Americans will think we're satirizing ourselves but will miss the point that we're actually satirizing them. For Canadians 8/10 for the rest of the world 5/10.