Hollywood Zap (1986)

User Rating:

3.5/10   

Director:

David Cohen

Writer:

David Cohen (writer)

Release Date:

November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Story of two friends, one searching for his father, the other searching for the ultimate sexual video game competition. |

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Independent Film

Cast

Ben Frank	...	Nash
Ivan E. Roth	...	Tucker "Downer" Downs
De Waldron	...	Tee Tee
Neil Flanagan	...	Sister Grace E. Magno
Anne Gaybis	...	Debbie
Claude Earl Jones	...	Uncle Lucas
Chuck Mitchell	...	Mr. Prideman
Stan Ross	...	Derelict
Helen Verbit	...	Housekeeper
Millie Moss	...	Customer
Shirley Prestia	...	Cashier
Addington Wise	...	Store Manager
Sandy Rose	...	Waitress
Don Carmona	...	Cheek
Nancye Ferguson	...	Cheek's Girl Friend

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexuality.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:13 | USA:R

Company:

Ben/Bar Prods.

Repo Man kind of offbeat. (spoilers)

I'm not saying that viewers who loved Repo Man will automatically enjoy this movie, at least not in its entirety. But this is a sort of low-budget, off-beat weirdness similar to Repo Man. Many of the eccentric characters and the odd situations they find themselves in are just plain weird (although the ultimate plot is not as baffling as Repo Man).

This is the story of a well-meaning nerdy doofus, Tucker, who becomes so fed up with his job as a lowly assistant manager at a retail outlet in Alabama, that he packs up the car and decides to head to west to Los Angeles in search of his father, who abandoned he and his mother at six. Despite this, Tucker seems quite optimistic in catching up on lost time with his pops. And it seems that the eccentrics that he meets in L.A. do little to shake his optimism, particularly Nash, the slick former Wall Street broker turned video game hustler whom he befriends. Nash, too, is in search of a higher power--the ultimate video game hustler known as Hollywood Zap, although this has little effect on the story, despite it serving as the title of the film. Nash tries to get Tucker to face it, that maybe his father just isn't worth searching for, advice which comes from a guy who was neglected by his own father.

This movie starts out with its amusing little moments, but ultimately ends up with anti-climatic imbalance, especially when you learn what has really become of Tucker's father and also, what Tucker decides to do in the end. By the middle point of the film, there has been so much of these little moments of humor with no real point, that it carries throughout the rest of the film and never does too much to get to the point, and consequently, it may leave the viewer in ultimate disgust by the resolution (or what little there may be) in the film.

However, because these kind of low-budget, strange sort of stylish comedies (much like Repo Man) end up with some sort of cult fame, if you these are the kind of films you don't mind watching, I wouldn't necessarily advise against catching this one. There are at least some moments destined to get a laugh out of you if you're not so serious about it.