At its core, Dreaming Hollywood is a movie about movies. You have a main character dead set on making it big in Hollywood, trying to sell his screenplay. But soon his Hollywood dream becomes a nightmare, and it makes for a…unique viewing experience.
The main character Ray Balfi (Turk Matthews) is a puerile ex-convict trying to make it big as a screenwriter. He soon completes a script for an animated feature called The Dog’s Meow and tries to sell it to various studios. No luck. Balfi supports himself by dealing drugs while he waits to hear if anyone has an interest in the script. He then discovers someone has taken his work and is producing a film without crediting him.
Things get…frantic from here.
The film, now about one man's quest for...revenge, of sorts, gets haphazard after Balfi discovers this. Part dream sequence/drug hallucination/flashback/stream of consciousness, the film demands its viewers' attention. Things get violent. We are introduced to various characters that quickly disappear, and who offer no resolution or meaning to the plot at all. Dreaming Hollywood isn’t sure if it wants to be a crime drama or a surrealist, absurd nightmare, and it gets muddled as it tries to find its footing.
Ray, however, is a very compelling antihero, even if his bizarre odyssey does drag a little bit. The Tarantino influence is very blatant here, and those who aren’t fans of his may be put off. However, the film would work for those interested in “gonzo” media, as well as those who are interested in movies about…well, movies.