Hollywood Dreams: Critic Reviews

[Director] Jaglom's scruffy style doesn't carry it through. He puts enough toxic insincerity on screen to singe, though.

Knowing but never jaded, Hollywood Dreams is driven by Ms. Frederick's no-boundaries commitment to her broken character, a performance that's as startling as it is touching.

Hollywood Dreams is meant to be an insider's tale, but it feels like it comes from the cinema of hangers-on.

The 15th film in 35 years written and directed by Henry Jaglom, that love-him-or-hate-him iconoclast of American independent filmmaking, is also one of his warmest.

The biggest problem is inexperienced lead Tanna Frederick, who overplays every scene.

I've been among the unbelievers, but Hollywood Dreams turned me around -- to a point. Perhaps it's because the film is among Jaglom's best, love him or leave him.

It's the Hollywood dream factory as seen through [director] Jaglom's lens, and it's often out of focus.

Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams are far closer to reality than they might seem. Unfortunately.

The balance of this indie production (Jaglom's 14th) consists of his usual weakly improvised relationship comedy.

Hollywood Dreams is a must for Jaglom fans. For other viewers, it will depend upon how much they can take of Jaglom's improvisational style and Frederick's over-the-top, tear-filled acting.

Better pruning and different choices might have helped to shape the film into a more cohesive piece, instead of one so desperate to be funny that it sacrifices its honesty.

This is one of Jaglom's most curious and oddly moving films.

Another clumsy Jaglom vanity project that's as grating as fingernails on a blackboard.

This film is too out there for a strong recommendation.

This is a quirky little movie that may have some people heading for the exits before the first 15 minutes have passed.

The movie caves in on the issue of charm.

The director lets actors do their thing, to a fault, which makes Frederick's blitzkrieg of a performance often off-putting but occasionally mesmerizing.

An indifferent stylist at best, [Jaglom's] films stand or fall depending on the talent and appeal of his leads, and he's found a good one in Frederick.

Amateurishly put together and reverently self-referential it's hard to imagine this movie having much appeal for anyone beyond its own cast and crew. Given the apparent size of its budget, though, that's probably enough to make it profitable.

An exceedingly modest comedy an annoying motormouth with almost nothing interesting to say. ... If I ever laughed, I don't remember it.

Too often Jaglom's touch is slightly off, piling up a mountain of absurdist scenes rife with oddball, "human" behavior that tests viewer patience.

Like John Cassavetes and Martin Scorsese, Jaglom knows how to push a scene into realms of such emotional nakedness that the viewer starts to feel like a voyeur looking in on relationships that are none of his or her business.

This might play funnier and less off-putting were if Frederick's Margie was not so disquietingly desperate.

It's a clunky, slack, directionless film that ultimately heads in a meaningful direction, but makes much of the route there seem unnecessary.

This take on the classic story of an ingenue trying to make her way in the City of Angels is no pleasure -- not when the ingenue is Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick).