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Hollywood Review

Hollywood is a 2020 television miniseries created by Ryan Murphy and starring Jake Picking, Jeremy Pope and Dylan McDermott. It’s a very silly, but undeniably fun show.

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“Your story is important“

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Set in 1947 Hollywood, it follows a bunch of aspiring actors and actresses who will stop at nothing to get a great role in a major picture. Eventually, all of them unite (blacks, gays, women) to make a groundbreaking picture that will once and for all erase bigotry from the US soil. Yes, let’s first get this out of the way – this is a fairy tale. It’s such a fairy tale that it might be considered to belong to the fantasy genre.

It’s ridiculously contrived in its ending. In particular, that final episode was cringy how joyous and congratulatory it finished. I do realize the appeal of this type of entertainment – after all, Tarantino did just that for blacks and Jews. But, unlike him, Murphy did not imbue enough of hatred and bigotry into this production to counteract the immensely unrealistic conclusion. So, I get what he was trying to do, but he still went too far and made an utter mess as he always does.

But what a gloriously entertaining mess this is. Like his previous shows, it cannot be denied that Hollywood is fun. Yes, it only has seven episodes, but they are long episodes, and none of them felt long at all. They flew by for me, which only goes to show how engaging this series is as I can rarely follow attentively these long-format shows. The pacing is strong and I actually found the structure working for once. At first, it was disparate per usual for Murphy, but then it coalesced into a somewhat coherent whole, which I did not expect at all.

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I personally really liked the sexual harassment angle. I do realize that this may be problematic to some, but this is how the Hollywood industry has always worked behind closed doors, so it should be portrayed accordingly. The same goes for the gay parties, the manipulation and the threats, all very grounded in reality.

Jack Castello is this typical straight white man striving to be an actor, but being a mediocrity beside his looks. David Corenswet is great in the role, but still this is one of less interesting characters and it was odd that the show started off with him. His drama with his wife is cliched, though well executed. As for Raymond, he’s a typical Darren Criss goody two shoes, so he was forgettable to me.

Everything with Camille was very well done and moving, though I wanted much more of Hattie McDaniel. I liked her scenes, but Queen Latifah was really miscast in the role. I also liked seeing Anna May Wong and they really showcased how shamefully mistreated she was back then. Archie is very memorable and Jeremy Pope is excellent in the role. I really loved his relationship with Rock Hudson and how strong it was.

Speaking of Rock, he is very badly portrayed here. Maybe he was on the slower side, but here he is just dumb, and it was ridiculous and funny. Jake Picking is great in the role, but I wanted more nuance from him. Samara Weaving is wonderful as Claire Wood, but it’s a very tiny role. She deserves more as she’s so great.

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Dylan McDermott absolutely stole the show as sweet, fun and wonderful Ernie. He’s the heart and soul of the entire show and his relationship with Ellen is so beautiful. Patti LuPone is fantastic as Avis, who is this powerful, respectful female producer. And I have to say that I really liked Jim Parsons as Henry Wilson. I usually dislike him, but he’s so much fun here and by far the best source of humor.

Overall, Hollywood is solid and so much fun, but immensely problematic. The technical aspects are great with the black-and-white photography being particularly gorgeous. The same goes for the costumes and score. But the movie within the show is horrible and the show is just too unrealistic.

Worst Episodes: Meg and A Hollywood Ending.

Best Episodes: Outlaws and Jump.