JIMMY HOLLYWOOD
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Joe Pesci, Christian Slater, Victoria Abril. Screenplay/Director: Barry Levinson.
If there has been one theme one can identify running through the work of director Barry Levinson, it is the search for the American Dream. He brought us the ambitious salesmen of TIN MEN, the optimistic immigrants of AVALON, and the visionary BUGSY, all darkly-tinged stories of guys trying to make their mark and make it big. JIMMY HOLLYWOOD is another such story, but it is lacking something previous Levinson projects had, namely a firm grasp on what the protagonsists' dreams were. There are interesting ideas in the script, and some of the dry humor characteristic of Levinson's dialogue, but it's never all that compelling because the character of Jimmy Alto is too schizophrenic, and with him the tone of the whole film.
JIMMY HOLLYWOOD is the nickname of Jimmy Alto (Joe Pesci), a struggling actor who has gone so far as to buy an advertisement for himself on a bus stop bench. He also adores the Hollywood of the glamorous 1940s and 1950s, and spends afternoons memorizing the stars on the Walk of Fame with addled friend William (Christian Slater). That Hollywood is strongly at odds with the reality Jimmy sees around him, however, and when a couple of crimes hit close to home he decides to do something about it. Along with William, Jimmy catches a thief and turns him in with a note identifying the captors as the "S.O.S." When the public begins expressing appreciation for the vigilantes, Jimmy begins to play the role for all it's worth, to the dismay of long-suffering girlfriend Lorena (Victoria Abril).
At various times, Levinson appears to be trying to tell two different stories through Jimmy. One is about the thankless life of being a struggling actor, including the cattle calls, waiting tables and shameless self-promotion necessary to make it. Jimmy never doubts for a minute that his big break is just around the corner, and when his vigilante persona "Jericho" becomes a media sensation, he is unwilling to give up what he considers "the role of a lifetime." At the same time, Levinson paints a picture of a one-time Tinseltown which has disintegrated into a city of drug deals, homelessness and ATM muggings. What happens is that it is never clear what motivates Jimmy. One moment it appears that he is a starry-eyed altruist who wants only to return Hollywood to its former glory; the next, he is simply a publicity-hungry would-be actor using crime to make a name for himself. The Jimmy who wants to strike fear into the hearts of criminals doesn't gel with the Jimmy who reveals himself for a big send-off. It is typical of Levinson to make his heroes' motives less than completely pure, but in this instance they're simply muddled. It is difficult to care all that much about Jimmy, and it's difficult to figure out whether Levinson wants us to focus on his characters or the setting.
It is also a simple truth that JIMMY HOLLYWOOD was a hard film for me to like. While it has its humorous moments, it's too grim to be a purely entertaining comedy, and it doesn't explore its dark themes deeply enough to be an insightful drama. Its two principal characters are frequently more pathetic than they are sympathetic, the pacing is extremely deliberate, and the shifts in tone had me shifting in my seat a lot. When I did find interesting elements, it was more a case of detatched admiration than enjoyment.
Among the objects of admiration were two performances, neither of them Joe Pesci's. Pesci needs to step back from motor-mouthed New Yorkers, because they are all beginning to look the same. His co-stars, however, are quite good. Victoria Abril livens up the token girlfriend role with some strong scenes, particularly a hillside farewell. The big surprise is a funny and affecting Christian Slater, whose forgetful William does the low-key performance in UNTAMED HEART one better. Slater is developing into a complete actor, and his performance here is extremely interesting. Yet perhaps "interesting" is the faint praise with which I ultimately damn JIMMY HOLLYWOOD. I found a number of things in the film interesting. I just found none of them truly engaging.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 cattle calls: 4.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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