Review: 'Hollywood': Bland and Beautiful

"Hollywood" (Netflix series, seven episodes); Cast: David Corenswet, Darren Criss, Jeremy Pope, Laura Harrier, Samara Weaving, Jim Parsons; Created by: Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan; Rating: * * and 1/2 (two and a half stars)

By Vinayak Chakravorty

Just because you have called your series "Hollywood" doesn't give it an extra dose of all that jazz.

The problem is the world has seen too much of good stuff on Hollywood already. Mere random recall would bring back "A Star Is Born" (original 1937 version, plus three remakes) or "Sunset Boulevard". Think of "The Player", "Hollywood Shuffle", "Hollywoodland", "Barton Fink" and even "LA Confidential". By the time you've jogged your memory down to "The Artist", "La Land" or "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood", you'd reckon you could fill an entire book, with names of efforts that have brilliantly defined everything Hollywood -- socially, culturally, historically and politically.

Okay, those are movies. Ryan Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan have tried to go extra expansive with a full-blown seven-episode web series. That's where the irony also strikes. In about a couple of hours or so, most films worth a mention on Hollywood have communicated far more than what Murphy and company struggle to achieve over seven episodes.

The trouble with "Hollywood" is it has no USP. It is an elaborate, goodlooking show of retro pomp that harps on the familiar theme of grime beneath the glamour, through the story of a bunch of starry-eyed youngsters in post-World War II LA. Now, if this young bunch is game to do anything that it takes to attain glamour, glory and grandeur, you have grounds to create sufficient drama over seven episodes.

Dylan McDermott plays Ernie, a filling station owner who holds his lopsided grin with nearly as much plasticity with which this show weaves fiction into filmland realism. Ernie's alternative job profile is far more lucrative. He pimps willing (and desperate for a break) youngsters to the Hollywood mighty.

The narrative plods forward accounting stories of three young men who get a break at Ernie's station. Jack Castello (David Corenswet) bags a film deal as actor. Raymond Ainsley (Darren Criss) ends up a director even as Archie Coleman (Jeremy Pope) realises his dream of selling his script.

Everything is unconvincing here -- from the half-bakes portraits of struggle to the shoddily set up vignettes meant to represent success. The weak writing affects the cast, too. It's a goodlooking cast, but none of the actors come up with a truly memorable act -- not even Jim Parsons (the phenomenal Sheldon of "The Big Bang Theory"), supposed to be playing out a role based on a very sinister man in real life. The character doesn't quite convey cold menace.

Incidentally, "Hollywood" employs the formula of alternate history, as Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" did only a few months ago. However, this series fails to use the formula effectively, to set up an intriguing story. Rather, the alternate realism here would seem ridiculous at one level.

Stray stabs at drama and lots of beautiful visuals could be counted as redeeming features of the show that is otherwise mediocre in script and execution. "Hollywood" is at the same time bland and beautiful, as showbiz itself can often be

(Vinayak Chakravorty can be reached at vinayak.c@ians.in)

Tags: Cinema, Showbiz, Quote Unquote