Welcome to Hollywood

Co-director/co-writer/co-star Adam Rifkin is typecast as director Adam Rifkin, a famed action helmer who yearns to make a meaningful documentary about the rise of a struggling young actor to stardom. After a series of auditions, Rifkin selects the hapless thesp Anton Markwell (co-director/co-writer/co-star Tony Markes) as his subject, and then sets out to make Markwell (who has now taken the testosterone-laden stage name Nick Drecker) into a big Hollywood star. The problem? By any name, Mr. Markwell is as talentless as they come, a fact which even Rifkin's considerable Hollywood pull and connections are ultimately helpless to change. Welcome to Hollywood sports a clever premise, and I'm sure it looked like a very promising project on paper--at least to the nine producers credited with hatching it. Unfortunately, neither Rifkin nor Markes have the comedic chops to pull such a droll satire off, attested to by the fact that they're both handily out-acted by Angie Everhart, who Rifkin hires to play Drecker's publicity-generating arm-candy. Still, this gets marks for originality, and its off-beat story and handful of very funny moments should (mildly) amuse both indie fans and Hollywood insiders alike. An optional purchase. (S. C. Sickles)