Rating: NNN
Hollywood Ending is a solid, consistent comedy that allows Allen the chance to play with a ton of filmmaking metaphors, chief among them Does the camera see all? and Can the unconscious mind create great art? Allen stars as Val Waxman, an Oscar-winning director down on his luck who agrees to direct his producer ex-wife’s (Téa Leoni) movie. But he feels so overwhelmed by the prospect that he goes blind and has to make the movie without his sight, relying on his agent (Mark Rydell), the on-set Chinese translator (he’s working with a Chinese cameraman) and finally Leoni to pull off the scam. The physical gags are great, and Allen takes good-natured digs at today’s cutthroat Hollywood milieu. The film shines whenever Leoni’s onscreen. She’s the perfect no-nonsense Allen foil, able to go head-to-head with his spurned-neurotic antics.
