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Hollywood Ending

  • 20022002
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
27K
YOUR RATING
Hollywood Ending (2002)
Home Video Trailer from Dreamworks Home Entertainment
Play trailer2:22
1 Video
99+ Photos
ComedyRomance
A director is forced to work with his ex-wife, who left him for the boss of the studio bankrolling his new film. But the night before the first day of shooting, he develops a case of psychos... Read allA director is forced to work with his ex-wife, who left him for the boss of the studio bankrolling his new film. But the night before the first day of shooting, he develops a case of psychosomatic blindness.A director is forced to work with his ex-wife, who left him for the boss of the studio bankrolling his new film. But the night before the first day of shooting, he develops a case of psychosomatic blindness.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
27K
YOUR RATING
    • Woody Allen
    • Woody Allen
  • Stars
    • Woody Allen
    • Téa Leoni
    • Bob Dorian
    • Woody Allen
    • Woody Allen
  • Stars
    • Woody Allen
    • Téa Leoni
    • Bob Dorian
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 159User reviews
    • 90Critic reviews
    • 46Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Hollywood Ending
    Trailer 2:22
    Watch Hollywood Ending

    Photos109

    Woody Allen and Téa Leoni in Hollywood Ending (2002)
    TÉA LEONI stars as Ellie in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN, left) and his agent Al Hack (MARK RYDELL) meet with studio executive Ellie (TÉA LEONI) in hopes that Val will be able to direct Ellie's next movie in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN) tells his girlfriend Lori (DEBRA MESSING) about his latest film project in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Studio head Hal Yeager (TREAT WILLIAMS) shows director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN) some poster ideas for his latest picture in Woody Allen's contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN) has a hard time envisioning poster ideas for his latest movie in Woody Allen's contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN, left) has an uncomfortable meeting about the progress of his comeback film with studio head Hal (TREAT WILLIAMS) in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    DEBRA MESSING stars as Lori, an aspiring actress, in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN) and studio executive Ellie (TÉA LEONI) compliment Lori (DEBRA MESSING) on her scene in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Director Val Waxman (WOODY ALLEN, left) is trying to describe what he envisions for the next scene to (left to right) his cinematographer's translator (BARNEY CHENG) and studio executives Ellie (TÉA LEONI) and Ed (GEORGE HAMILTON) in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    TREAT WILLIAMS stars as Hal Yeager, the head of the studio, in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.
    Studio head Hal Yeager (TREAT WILLIAMS) and his fiancee Ellie (TÉA LEONI) discuss the progress of their latest film project, being directed by Ellie's ex-husband, in Woody Allen's latest contemporary comedy HOLLYWOOD ENDING, being distributed domestically by DreamWorks.

    Top cast

    Edit
    Woody Allen
    Woody Allen
    • Val
    Téa Leoni
    Téa Leoni
    • Ellie
    Bob Dorian
    Bob Dorian
    • Galaxie Executive
    Ivan Martin
    Ivan Martin
    • Galaxie Executive
    Gregg Edelman
    Gregg Edelman
    • Galaxie Executive
    George Hamilton
    George Hamilton
    • Ed
    Treat Williams
    Treat Williams
    • Hal
    Debra Messing
    Debra Messing
    • Lori
    Neal Huff
    Neal Huff
    • Commercial A.D.
    Mark Rydell
    Mark Rydell
    • Al
    Douglas McGrath
    Douglas McGrath
    • Barbeque Guest
    Stephanie Roth Haberle
    Stephanie Roth Haberle
    • Barbeque Guest
    Bill Gerber
    • Barbeque Guest
    Roxanne Perry
    • Barbeque Guest
    Barbara Carroll
    Barbara Carroll
    • Carlyle Pianist
    Howard Erskine
    • Carlyle Patron
    Yu Lu
    Yu Lu
    • Cameraman
    • (as Lu Yu)
    Barney Cheng
    Barney Cheng
    • Translator
      • Woody Allen
      • Woody Allen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The relationship between the Chinese cinematographer, his translator, and Woody Allen's character is loosely based on the relationship between Allen and cinematographer Zhao Fei, who worked together on Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Small Time Crooks (2000), and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001). Allen exaggerated the comic aspect of the relationship.
    • Goofs
      When Val Waxman recovers his sight in the park, the angle where the sun light hits the buildings in the background is different than the angle where the light hits Val and Ellie.
    • Quotes

      Val: You know, part of me wants it so badly.

      Lori: And the other part?

      Val: Also wants it. That's the problem.

    • Connections
      Featured in Woody Allen: A Life in Film (2002)
    • Soundtracks
      Going Hollywood
      Written by Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown

      Performed by Bing Crosby

      Courtesy of Jasmine Records

    User reviews159

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    time-marking comedy from a master filmmaker
    Did your mother ever tell you that it wasn't polite to make fun of blind people? Well, apparently, Woody Allen's mother didn't, since this is exactly what he does for a good hour or more in his latest film, `Hollywood Ending.' (Or, perhaps, he just doesn't WANT to be polite). Whatever the case, Allen himself stars as Val Waxman, a once brilliant film director who has fallen on hard times, partly due to his own temperamental nature and partly to his own tendency for obsessive/compulsive behavior and chronic hypochondria, all of which have made him anathema to Hollywood's major producers. Tea Leoni plays Val's ex-wife, Ellie, who convinces her current fiancé, studio boss Hal (played by Treat Williams), to take a chance on Val and turn a multimillion dollar film project over to the iconoclastic director. All is going well until, right on the eve of production, Val develops a case of psychosomatic blindness, a condition he and a few close allies try to keep a secret during the making of the film. The majority of `Hollywood Ending' revolves around Val's attempts to keep people from finding out the truth and delivering a creditable motion picture to the studio heads at the same time.

    In many ways, this pallid comedy combines the slapstick elements of Allen's early works (`Bananas' and `Sleeper') with the cynicism of his later, more mature explorations of modern urban romantic life (`Annie Hall,' `Manhattan'). Unfortunately, `Hollywood Ending' winds up as an uneasy hybrid of the two forms, mixing lowbrow comic mugging and pratfalls with the customary angst-ridden dithering that Allen has been indulging in (often quite effectively) for well nigh a quarter of a century now. Well, the bloom is definitely off the rose here. Part of the problem is that Allen's neurotic tics are amusing only when he has some serious points to make under all the humor. In this film, however, he is providing no insights to go along with the chatter so that he comes across as whiney and self-absorbed rather than witty and ironical. Val always seems to be blathering a mile a minute, so much so that we finally just want him to shut up and give us a moment's silence. To make matters worse, the scenes of broad physical comedy – Allen bumping into furniture, Allen breaking glasses, Allen falling off platforms – are not particularly well executed, lacking the kind of adept, split second timing essential to make such scenes comically effective. Thus, the film fails on two levels: both as a work of slapstick and as a verbal comedy of ideas. The film could, potentially, have scored as an acerbic satire on the ludicrous commercial values that define the American film industry, yet even most of these `inside' jokes seem strangely unoriginal and old hat, especially coming from a man as attuned to the industry as Woody Allen.

    Although Allen, in his old age, has degenerated into little more than a wan parody of himself, Tea Leoni sparkles as Ellie, creating a character who is simultaneously strong, sensible, insecure and vulnerable. Leoni's performance is, literally, the anchor that keeps this otherwise lighter-than-air trifle from floating away completely. Barney Cheng does a nice job playing a Chinese translator whom Val uses to help him carry off this impossible charade; Mark Rydell provides some memorable moments as Val's helpful agent; and Debra Messing glows as Val's beautiful but bubble headed `significant other,' who is far more concerned about losing her part in the movie than losing her role as bedmate to the neurotic director.

    It would be unfair, as well as untruthful, to say that `Hollywood Ending' did not afford a couple of pretty impressive laughs along the way. This IS a Woody Allen film, after all. And even Woody on a bad day is better than many of our Hollywood humorists on a good day. But with so many great films in his oeuvre, one naturally goes into this film with high expectations. When a final assessment is made of all of Allen's prodigious cinematic output, `Hollywood Ending' will wind up somewhere very near the bottom of the list.
    helpful•23
    13
    • Buddy-51
    • May 4, 2002

    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 3, 2002 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Dreamworks Pictures
      • Gravier Productions
      • Perdido Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 52 minutes

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