Critical Commentary - "Hollywood"

The latest blockbusting, binge-worthy series from Netflix is "Hollywood" which began streaming last week.  The creative force behind this series is Emmy Award winning  producer/director/writer Ryan Murphy, who gave us "Feud", the terrifically stylish and trashy limited series about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford a few years back.  That was enough to peak my curiosity about "Hollywood."  Yes it was stylish, yes, it was trashy, and yes it was quite entertaining, and I watched all seven episodes over a period of three days.

It tells the stories of young people - four actors, a director, and a screenwriter - trying to make it in Hollywood in the period immediately after World War II.  It also gives what can be called, and this is a huge understatement, an alternate history of how Hollywood has dealt with such issues as race and gay lifestyles over the years.  No doubt the frankness with which some of these issues are dealt will turn many people off of this series.  Some will also choose to make a political issue over it, so to those people I say, just don't watch it.  C'est le vie.

The main characters - the kids trying to make it - were pretty much unknown to me.  They are David Corenswet, Darren Criss, Laura Harrier, Jake Picking, Samara Weaving, and Jeremy Pope.  

Harrier, Corenswet, Criss, Pope, Weaving

The young stars of "Hollywood"

All were attractive, engaging, and quite good in their roles.  In other key supporting roles, however, were a bunch of older actors such as Patti LuPone, Holland Taylor, Dylan McDermott, Rob Reiner, Mira Sorvino, and Queen Latifah.  At least two of them, LuPone and Taylor, deserve Emmy consideration for their work in this one, I believe.

Also playing a huge role in this one was Jim Parsons, best known as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.  Parsons obviously wanted to break from his Sheldon character by 180 degrees, and he succeeded in doing so.  Playing a gay and sleazy Hollywood  agent and fixer, Parsons was the guy that everyone hated, including  us in the viewing audience.  He played the part so broadly and flamboyantly that it verged on caricature, and it was hard to take him seriously, until, that is, the last half of the seventh and final episode.  His scene at that point with Rock Hudson, whom he had demeaned and exploited throughout the series, was very good and had a lot of depth.  Enough to make you say, this guy is a pretty good actor.

The series includes portrayals of real Hollywood people, Rock Hudson being the most critical one to this story, but others include Anna May Wong, Hattie McDaniel, Tallulah Bankhead, Vivian Leigh, George Cukor, and Noel Coward.

"Hollywood" is a trashy soap opera about, well, Hollywood, but it was stylish and beautiful to look at and had its fun, scenery chewing moments.   It gets Two and One-half Stars from The Grandstander.