Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Hollywood is often described as the dream factory. It was, however, built by people whose own dreams never came true, which is exactly the situation two protagonists find themselves at the beginning of Tinseltown, 1997 black comedy directed by Tony Spiridakis. Tiger (played by Tom Wood) and Max (played by Arye Gross) are two aspiring writers who came to Los Angeles in hope of starting screenwriting careers, but their attempts to pitch their stories to big studio executives failed. Now they are forced to live in converted self-storage unit, in a facility run by Cliff (played by Ron Perlman), physically intimidating but kind-hearted man who also once dreamed about Hollywood career. One day Tiger and Max discover that Cliff might be actually a serial killer that terrorises Los Angeles. Instead of reporting their findings to police, they get an idea of using Cliff’s story as basis for film that they would try to pitch through their agent Arnie (played by Joe Pantoliano). Arnie agrees and film goes through production, being directed by young film student Nikki Randall (played by Kristy Swanson).

Tinseltown is based on the Self-Storage, 1990 stage play by Dan Lauria. Despite its stage origin, it looks more as typically 1990s low budget independent film inspired by Tarantinoesque black comedies, this time with a little touch of biting satire against Hollywood. Spiridakis, who co-wrote the script with Shem Bitterman, appears to know what he is talking about and the film is full of examples of people who, guided by desire to became wealthy and famous, lost all traces of morality or common sense. Characters are well-defined and this is achieved by very good cast, in which Ron Perlman dominates with his imposing physique. Unfortunately, somewhere in the middle of the film authors seem to run out of ideas and start using cliches and implausibilities, especially in the case of nymphomaniac film maker played by Kristy Swanson. The initially good impression is further wrecked by rushed and unconvincing ending. Tinseltown became quite obscure film and those who watch it would probably get an idea that it happened because of lost potential to become another strong anti-Hollywood piece like Altman’s The Player.

RATING: 4/10 (+)