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Hollywood Ending
Hollywood Ending
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Woody Allen
Written by	Woody Allen
Produced by	Letty Aronson
Starring	Woody Allen; George Hamilton; Téa Leoni; Debra Messing; Mark Rydell; Treat Williams;
Cinematography	Wedigo von Schultzendorff
Edited by	Alisa Lepselter
Production; company	Gravier Productions
Distributed by	DreamWorks Pictures
Release date	May 3, 2002;
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$16 million
Box office	$14.8 million

Hollywood Ending is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, who also plays the principal character. It tells the story of a once-famous film director who suffers hysterical blindness due to the intense pressure of directing.

Plot

Val Waxman is a once-prestigious film director who now directs television commercials. When he is thrown off his latest effort (a deodorant commercial filmed in the frozen north of Canada), he desperately seeks a real movie project.

Out of the blue, Val receives an offer to direct a big-budget blockbuster to be set in New York City. However, the offer comes from his former wife, Ellie, and her boyfriend, Hal, the studio head who stole her from Val years ago.

Pushed by his agent Al Hack, Val reluctantly agrees to the project, but a psychosomatic ailment strikes him blind just before production is to begin. With Al's encouragement and aid, Val keeps his blindness a secret from the cast and crew (and Hal). During filming, Val rekindles his relationship with Ellie and reconnects with his estranged son, Tony, while his much younger girlfriend, Lori, leaves him. When Val regains what had been missing his life, he regains his sight as well, and realizes that the movie he directed while blind is a disaster.

Sure enough, the movie flops - but is a hit in France, where he is invited to direct a film. After winning Ellie back, he happily proclaims, "Thank God the French exist."

Cast

Woody Allen as Val Waxman
Téa Leoni as Ellie
George Hamilton as Ed
Treat Williams as Hal Jaeger
Debra Messing as Lori Fox
Neal Huff as Commercial A.D.
Mark Rydell as Al Hack
Lu Yu as Cameraman
Barney Cheng as Translator
Jodie Markell as Andrea Ford
Isaac Mizrahi as Elio Sebastian
Marian Seldes as Alexandra
Tiffani Thiessen as Sharon Bates
Peter Gerety as Psychiatrist
Greg Mottola as Assistant Director
Fred Melamed as Pappas
Jeff Mazzola as Prop Man
Aaron Stanford as Actor
Erica Leerhsen as Actress
Joe Rigano as Projectionist
Mark Webber as Tony Waxman
Rochelle Oliver as Script Supervisor

Production notes

Haskell Wexler was the original cinematographer, but was fired by Woody Allen after a week of filming as they could not agree on how to film certain shots. Wedigo von Schultzendorff replaced Wexler.^[3]

Soundtrack

Going Hollywood (1933) - Music by Nacio Herb Brown - Lyrics by Arthur Freed - Performed by Bing Crosby
It's Been So Long (1935) - Music by Walter Donaldson - Lyrics by Harold Adamson - Performed by Edmond Hall
Hooray for Hollywood (1937) - Music by Richard A. Whiting - Lyrics by Johnny Mercer - Performed by Dick Powell, Frances Langford, Johnnie Davis, Gene Krupa & Benny Goodman
Descarga (1955) - Written by Chico O'Farrill - Performed by Tito Puente
Sweet And Lovely (1931) - Written by Gus Arnheim, Neil Moret & Harry Tobias - Performed by Barbara Carroll
Too Close For Comfort (1956) - Written by Jerry Bock, Lawrence Holofcener & George David Weiss - Performed by Jackie Gleason
Poor Butterfly (1916) - Written by Raymond Hubbell & John Golden - Performed by Bobby Hackett & His Orchestra
Serenade in Blue (1942) - Music by Harry Warren - Lyrics by Mack Gordon - Performed by Jackie Gleason
No Moon at All (1947) - Written by David Mann & Redd Evans - Performed by Barbara Carroll
Grindhouse (1989) - Written by Ivan De Prume, Sean Yseult, Jay Yuenger & Rob Zombie - Performed by White Zombie^[4]

Box office

Ticket sales in the United States reach just under $5 million^[1]^[2] and a worldwide gross of $14.8 million.^[1]

It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[5] In the United Kingdom, it was the first of Allen's films not to receive a theatrical release.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 47% rating based on reviews from 133 critics, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Although Hollywood Ending contains some zany one-liners, its promising premise is far from developed."^[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 37 reviews.^[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.^[8]

Film critic Bryant Frazer thought that it suffered from poor editing. He wrote, "What's most frustrating is the sense that Hollywood Ending could have been quite a bit better than it actually is. At 114 minutes, it's decisively lacking in the brevity that used to characterize Allen's pictures—even the super-serious, Bergman-inspired stuff. Worse, his timing seems to be off—the filmmaker who was once notorious for cutting his films to the absolute bone now gives us rambling, overlong shots featuring performers who almost seem to be ad libbing their dialogue. I ran to the Internet Movie Database to investigate, and discovered what may be the problem—Susan Morse is gone. Morse, the editor who had worked with Allen since Manhattan in 1979 and who turned into a real soldier by the time of the jazzy montage that characterized Deconstructing Harry, was reportedly a victim of budget-cutting within the ranks."^[9]

In 2016, film critics Robbie Collin and Tim Robey ranked Hollywood Ending as the worst movie by Woody Allen.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Hollywood Ending". The Numbers. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Hollywood Ending at Box Office Mojo
^ "Woody's Hollywood Echoes Real Life". Fox News. April 28, 2002. Archived from the original on March 5, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
^ Harvey, Adam (2007). The Soundtracks of Woody Allen. US: Macfarland & Company,Inc. p. 70. ISBN 9780786429684.
^ "Festival de Cannes: Hollywood Ending". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
^ "Hollywood Ending (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
^ Hollywood Ending at Metacritic
^ "Home - Cinemascore". Cinemascore. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2019.^{[better source needed]}
^ Frazer, Bryant. "Hollywood Ending". Deep Focus. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ Collin, Robbie; Robey, Tim (October 12, 2016). "All 47 Woody Allen movies - ranked from worst to best". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2017.