Sunset Strip

Anna Friel probably wishes she had Rachel Weisz's agent; otherwise she wouldn't have been stuck in the likes of "An Everlasting Piece," "Rogue Trader" (the Nick Leeson biopic which went directly to cable in the US), "Mad Cows" and "Sunset Strip." Barely released in America and never released here, the movie proves yet again that you should beware of anything that gets its sole airings on cable well after midnight and which isn't a porn movie.

Set in 1972 LA, the movie focuses on a day in the life of a variety of people in or linked to the music business - but with the exception of Jared Leto's wild and crazy singer, doesn't gets us interested in any of them. Not Simon Baker's photographer, not Nick Stahl's guitarist, not Adam Goldberg's manager, not Rory Cochrane's songwriter, not even Friel's costume designer. The movie wants a Cameron Crowe feel but never achieves it, except in one scene where Baker and Friel discuss the size of the latter's breasts - and only because "Singles" had something similar and much, much better. (Actually, everything about "Singles" is much, much better.)

Maybe it's me, but there's something wrong when a movie with music at its core has a soundtrack that sucks, both in terms of the score from Stewart Copeland and the songs heard; ironically, this results in one of the rare moments that works, when Stahl's band goes on stage as support for a visiting English band and winds up getting booed off. At that point the movie does capture the frustration of doing your best and finding it's not good enough, but with too few scenes like that, we're left checking the time to see when it ends (and it takes a long time - beware of movies that seem to last an eternity even at less than 90 minutes). The main band, by the way, is supposed to blow the audience away, but they're actually duller than the support.

No one will ever accuse the makers of glamourising LA, but even "That '70s Show" has more convincing period detail; and with no real coherence in its story and a wrapup that makes you wonder if a lot of the plot was left on Fox's cutting room floor, this viewer was left thanking the stars for Anna Friel's declining to wear a bra. Not that it prevents "Sunset Strip" from scoring a 98 on the "Is this boring or what?" scale; this should have gotten lost in its rock and roll and drifted away.

After seeing the film for the first time last night, and then reading some of the negative reviews here, the only logical conclusion I can make is this; if you weren't closely involved in that era, in that place, then you probably won't enjoy the film. But if you did, you will love it.

For those who were there, "Sunset Strip" is amazingly accurate, and sometimes painfully so. The male-centric attitude women of that time had to endure from so-called "liberated" men was summed-up perfectly in the scene where Anna Friel's character is summoned - there's no better word for it - by her rock-star idol, and upon arrival at his hotel room, is asked to serve tea by some pompous jerk.

As stated much better than I ever could by "fastfilmhh" in her review of this film, it is a deadly-accurate portrayal of the time, places and attitudes back then, warts and all.

The only error that I found was when one character made reference to "bad 'ludes." While there was certainly bad coke, and bad weed, Quaaludes were far too inexpensive and easily available for anyone to waste their time knocking off fakes, at least in my experience.

But that small mistake was nicely balanced-out by the stage-whispered comment made during a party scene by yet another pompous jerk - there were lots of those back then - alerting a new arrival to the "real party" going on in a closed-to-the-less-than-super-cool back room. That sort of social status selectivity happened at every party ever held back then, and was called "cocaine politics".

The producers obviously took great effort to maintain an accurate portrait of the times, from using and recording actual Fender 'Strats, to only showing three-piece bands on the Whisky's stage, which was a hard and fast rule at that club, unless the band was currently uber-hot.

Sidenote: If you are interested in securing your grand-children's financial security, find and buy an original Fender Stratocaster like the ones used in the film, plus some strings, and place them in a large safe-deposit box. In a hundred years or so, those puppies will be worth their weight in Stradivarius violins.

Some reviews have mentioned the lack of character development in "Sunset Strip", and that is accurate, especially when compared to other film portraying that period, such as "Almost Famous." While I won't pretend to read the writer's and director's minds, I will say that, considering the accuracy of the rest of the production, it could be that they deliberately left the characters shallow because let's face it, ... they (we) all were shallow back then. You needed those high boots to wade through the wall-to-wall pretense. The only difference between the suits and the freaks was that the freaks were freaks on purpose. And just a bit more honest. Sometimes.

Anyway, if you want to watch a living textbook of that place at that time, "Sunset Strip" hits the nail on the head. Just don't say it's far-out and groovy, please, or you won't be invited to the real party.

...Pardon my bad Cameron Crowe paraphrasing.

You know that feeling you get when you're sauntering past video boxes and you come across something that looks good...with some acting credit names you recognize, but somehow you've still never heard of the movie! It's a feeling of "This is probably going to suck, but I feel like takin' a chance anyway". Well, I did and it did.

I made it all the way through, although I was reading IMDb reviews of the thing while I was watching, and it sure helped not having to focus 100% of my attention on SUNSET STRIP. Kudos to the guy with the review linking Adam Goldberg's character to "Disco Stu", as I at least laughed at that while the tape was running.

Other than the alluring Anna Friel, there is absolutely no reason to watch this ALMOST FAMOUS ripoff (which actually was dumped in a couple of theaters a month before AF). But other than both films having a shot of the LA Continental Hyatt House, these movies are on opposite ends of the quality scale.

The movie starts off with this prologue:

"In Hollywood in 1972 upon Sunset, man The Strip was packed every night. Not with tourists, but Us, the people in the backrooms trying to make it. We were all out there looking for something because we knew that LA was a goldmine and that your life could change in 24hrs and thats why we came here."

The movie takes place within a 24hr period, giving insight into the lives of those trying to "make it". For such a short period, the viewer gets an awful lot of character development. One of the many things that makes this movie good is how one can relate to the characters, the realism. The soundtrack is also really well done, it totally sets the mood for each moment and has a tendancy to carry the viewer to where they are supposed to be.

I found the acting to be believable, and was glad to see some faces I recognized for other movies. I would suggest anyone who is looking for a good movie check this out.

This is a fun, quirky, magnetic little movie about trying to make it in the 1970's rock scene amidst L.A.'s famed Sunset Strip District. It stays away from some of the heavier issues going on in the 70's, but I found that the trip it does bring us on is unique enough and real enough to play as good film making. Nick Stahl is believable in the rock n roll wannabe roll, and Leto is scene stealing as the STAR.

Although it doesn't have the heart of an Almost Famous or the dirt of a Boogie Nights, it meets both films halfway and entertains.