Hollywood Dreams

A potentially good comic idea is buried in independent writer-director Henry Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams—involving an up-and-coming Hollywood hunk who pretends to be gay to boost his career—but it's just a minor subplot in a tale that focuses instead on Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick), a no-talent actress wannabe who's tossed out of her apartment by a roommate and winds up being taken in by a pair of gay movie producers (in a twist that completely defies credulity). Here, she meets Robin Mack (Justin Kirk), a pretty-boy actor who's passing for gay in order to jumpstart his career, and unaccountably falls for Margie, despite the fact that she's both shrill and self-absorbed. Naturally, Margie will eventually be faced with a choice between pursuing love or stardom. While the outdated stereotyping is bad enough, the film is further undercut by the fact that Jaglom Always, Eating) doesn't demonstrate the slightest sense of directorial rhythm here, and Frederick is entirely too convincing as a bad actress, creating an obnoxious heroine who doesn't warrant the slightest sympathy. Hollywood Dreams may well appeal to Jaglom's devoted fans, but to everyone else it will seem more of a nightmare. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)