The Hollywood Sign

"The Hollywood Sign" starts with some sharp comedy, but quickly deteriorates. Rod Steiger and Burt Reynolds hold things together for a short time, while Tom Beringer comes across as if he had a bad case of constipation. I had expectations that this was a black comedy, but what attempts were made at dark humor fall flat, mostly because of terrible timing. The script is very muddled, and the exact nature of the crime caper never clear. What is crystal clear is that "The Hollywood Sign" wastes good performances from Burt Reynolds and Rod Steiger. Because of the weak script, boredom eventually evolves into disinterest. A real sleeper. ZZZZZZ - MERK

Silly comedy in which three decadent actors team up in a ridiculous farse to catch the money stolen from one cassino of Las Vegas. Lame story, with a direction which tries all the time to be clever but is just dissapointing. Anyway, the three leads (Berenguer, Reynolds and Steiger) are good and seems to be having a good time just for the fact they are working together.

I give this a 4 (four).

If you can get past the far-fetched plot (full of weird schemes and big coincidences) this can be pretty funny movie. The three main actors (Tom Berenger, Burt Reynolds and Rod Steiger) are all pretty good. OK, so they overact sometimes, so the plot is flawed and the pace sometimes uneven--but I still found myself laughing throughout the film.

My mom was with me when I saw this film and we both got a huge kick out of the last portion of the movie--where these three bumbling has-been actors are trying to con a bunch of gangsters into believing that they (the actors) are cops. Each actor almost blows it, improvises, over-acts, acts badly, and it's all pretty hilarious.

In my opinion this film is worth seeing for the fun scenes between the three main stars. I think they played off each other well. I especially liked Rod Steiger (in one of his last roles) but I enjoyed the performances of all three.

I recommend this film if you are willing to look past the flaws, and allow yourself to be amused by the fun stuff. There are definitely laughs to be had in this film.

"The Hollywood Sign" is all about a trio of washed up, has-been movie actors (Berenger, Reynolds, Steiger) who decide to turn fiction into reality by using a movie screenplay as the blueprint for a Vegas casino ripoff (sorta). Everyone in this unfortunate flick seems to be waiting for the other cue to drop. Performances are hickory; the screenplay is clumsy; timing is waaay off; and God knows where the director was during the filming. There is one poignant moment when Reynolds watches himself in an old western and a few funny moments where the trio, playing like detectives, interview some hoods. Otherwise the film is a waste of talent and a waste of time. (D)

The objective of "direct to video" movie makers is to attract the biggest "names" that their budget can afford. All the better to sell videos and offshore rights. From that cynical perspective Hollywood Sign still remains a failure. The plot is minimal and falls apart if you start to ask to many questions. Similarly, the dialog has some good lines, principally on their reduced acting status in Hollywood, but no where near enough to make this any sort of sly masterpiece. Therefore the whole value of the movie comes down to the three leads. Tom Berenger starts out with some character and pathos but recedes as the movie progresses. In the main showcase, with the three leads impersonating police, he is effectively wallpaper. Burt Reynolds can be described as erratic. On the plus side he shows true emotion looking at his old movies and comedy in in preparing for the "cop" role. However, in between, he is often vacant and the viewer is left to contemplate what appears to be really bad plastic surgery. Rod Steiger dominates all the scenes he's in and, by far, comes off the best. It's a matter of personal taste as to whether he goes into overacting but I could at least see the emotion which would have driven him to star status in the first place. Fans and completists of any of these three will be willing to see Hollywood Sign and, in that regard, the direct to video movie makers have achieved their objective. However, it is doubtful that anyone will need to see it twice.