The Hollywood Sign (2001)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Sönke Wortmann

Writers:

Leon de Winter (novel)
Leon de Winter (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 October 2001 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Three ex-Hollywood legends are going to steal $10,000,000. If they can only keep their act together.

Plot:

Three washed-up actors must deliver the most convincing performances of their lives as part of a dangerous plot designed to finance their triumphant comeback. |

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Based On Novel

Cast

Tom Berenger	...	Tom Greener
Jacqueline Kim	...	Paula Carver
Rod Steiger	...	Floyd Benson
Burt Reynolds	...	Kage Mulligan
Al Sapienza	...	Rodney
Dominic Keating	...	Steve
Eric Bruskotter	...	Muscle
David Proval	...	Charlie
Kay E. Kuter	...	Robbie Kant
Raf Mauro	...	Lenny Lena
Kathleen Gati	...	Deb
Roz Witt	...	Deli Waitress
Adria Tennor	...	Kant's Receptionist
Amy Leland	...	Rocco Hostess
Mark Gantt	...	Party Boy

Also Known As:

Der Himmel von Hollywood (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Germany | USA | Netherlands

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:12 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Senator Film Produktion

Goofs:

Continuity: The bottle of whiskey rotates between shots even though no one has touched it.

Quotes:

Kage Mulligan: Hello, I am Detective William... Barslow and I'm here to ask you some questions. Can I come in?
Paula Carver: You know, I think I'd like to see Mister Benson open.
Kage Mulligan: What?
Paula Carver: Would you mind giving it a shot?
Floyd Benson: Oh, not at all. I was born to be a leading man, you know.
Kage Mulligan: This is my part! This is my scene!
Tom Greener: Kage, Kage, ehm, just take it easy. We're, we're trying some things out here.
Kage Mulligan: Nothing ever changes.

Movie Connections:

Features Navajo Joe (1966)

Pretty good

At the movie's start, Kage is playing a cop in a movie and messing up take after take after take. Tom is his partner, and during a break in filming, his girlfriend Paula says she has written a movie script called 'The Hollywood Sign', though she has been told to revise the ending.

Seven years later, Tom can't get work as an actor and he is having to take a real job. At the hotel he moves into, he meets Kage and discovers Kage is in the same situation and living there too. Later in the movie, we see just why these two actors are washed up--they haven't got it any more (but the results are hilarious!). Tom has revised Paula's script, but the process of making the movie gets put on hold for a while.

At a funeral, the two meet Floyd, another has-been actor who is still able to make a good living installing burglar alarms. If needed, he could also install bugs and other surveillance equipment.

The three actors go to the movie's title landmark and discover a body. What they decide to do about the body, and about finding out how it got there, results in quite a few laughs.

Rod Steiger gave this movie's outstanding performance, especially toward the end, but Tom Berenger and Burt Reynolds both did fine jobs as well. Reynolds leaned more toward comedy and did quite well. I'm not saying it was one of his best performances, but it was enjoyable.

Jacqueline Kim made a confident and intelligent Paula. And she looked good too--especially wearing little or no clothing.

The bumbling gangsters connected in some way with the body were funny and not that threatening. Rodney, one of Floyd's clients, was the head gangster and halfway intelligent, while Muscle seemed to be just that. Steve seemed more street-smart. Charlie, the clumsy sidekick to the veteran actors, also provided comedy relief.

The ending was very strange but entertaining.

I thought this was worth seeing.