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In Woody Allen's most recent movie Hollywood Ending that seems more like his older films, he plays aging director Val Waxman. He hasn't had a decent offer in ten years, when he was on the top of his game. While in Canada shooting a deodorant commercial, executives from Galaxie Pictures think that he'd be the best to direct their new big-budget blockbuster, The City That Never Sleeps.
When Val gets back from Canada, his live-in "girlfriend" Lori (Debra Messing) begs him to take the film so she can be in it. Lori doesn't really seem to like Val that much; she only wants to be in some of his movies. Val seems ecstatic. Until he finds out who he's working for.
His ex-wife Ellie (Tèa Leoni) and her new fiancee Hal Yeager (Treat Williams). Val's agent Al Hack (Mark Rydell) begs him to take the job, and he reluctantly does. But, after the first day, Val gets psychosomatic blindness (why not?). He trusts Al with the secret, but when Al can't stay on the set all the time, Val needs help. Fast.
Allen is in top form here, doing better than his more recent (The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is what I have in mind). His comedy is mainly one-liners, and most of them are really funny. I saw it for the second time, and it obviously isn't as funny as the first, but I did do a lot of ha!s. You can't remember all the jokes told, so some can still hit you.
The classic music that Allen puts into all his movies doesn't seem like it would fit in the 2002 Hollywood, but somehow it does. It brings out the somewhat noir-ish mood that is involved somehow. The script is sometimes too packed with jokes, and it would seem that Allen is trying to win back his 70s and 80s audience.
Incidentally, the major plot of the movie deals with Allen's own life. He was big in the 70s and 80s (Annie Hall, Hannah and her Sisters, etc.) but now is trying to win back the success he had before. Of course, Allen is still popular, but doesn't bring back all of everything he had before.
Everyone played nicely with each other during acting. Even though the age difference between Allen and Leoni, I still believed that it did happen. Allen looks older and is maybe slowing down. Who knows?
Hollywood Ending, which produces what the title says, is a funny saga and spoof of Hollywood gone wrong.
Rated PG-13 for some drug references and sexual material.
Review Date: December 8, 2002