Product Details

• Actors: Woody Allen, Téa Leoni, Bob Dorian, Ivan Martin, Gregg Edelman
• Directors: Woody Allen
• Writers: Woody Allen
• Producers: Charles H. Joffe, Helen Robin, Jack Rollins, Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Dreamworks Video
• VHS Release Date: February 4, 2003
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006B1HD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,644 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With Hollywood Ending, Woody Allen good-naturedly bites the hand that feeds him. The modern studio system is a ripe target for Allen’s rapier wit, but the veteran writer-director goes a delicious step further by playing a has-been filmmaker who suffers from psychosomatic blindness--during the production of his big-budget comeback! Rather than sabotage his career, he proceeds to direct the film with guidance from his Chinese cinematographer’s translator, telling his agent (played by another veteran director, Mark Rydell) while hiding the truth from his ex-wife and producer (Téa Leoni), her studio honcho husband (Treat Williams), and his ditzy actress girlfriend (Debra Messing), who has a small role in the film. Chaos ensues--and so does Allen’s predilection for casting much-younger female costars--but Hollywood Ending favors a more contemplative blend of comedy and drama, peppered with memorable punch lines and blessed with, yes, a Hollywood ending that’s as entertaining as the mayhem that precedes it. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Woody Allen casts himself as the washed-up movie director Val Waxman, a real pain in the neck. Téa Leoni, she of the puckered mouth and long, lean body (here draped in cashmere), is his ex-wife, Ellie, who prevails on her current boyfriend-a smoothly dominating studio boss (Treat Williams)-to give Val one last chance at a big-budget picture. As the shoot begins, Val is afflicted by hysterical blindness, and various people serve as seeing-eye dogs, though no one on the set notices he's sightless. The movie is a farce, of course, but it's still awkwardly literal. A conceit that might have worked in a Chaplin two-reeler nearly destroys a full-length feature, and the pairing of the older Allen and the exquisite Leoni is embarrassing. With George Hamilton as a curious studio personage who is always present, golf club in hand, to spy on the creative people and intimidate everyone with his perfect tan. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has some very funny moments., May 1, 2002

By 

"shankar_k" (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

What a relief to finally see an intelligent comedy without any gross scenes! Of late, comedies have been more and more gross, thanks mainly to the sickening trend set by movies like 'There is something about Mary'. Woody Allen deserves credit for giving us 'Hollywood ending', a film that has some very funny moments.

Woody Allen plays a washed-out film director, whose wife (played by Tea Leoni) has left him for a film producer (Treat Williams). Then this script comes into the hands of Treat Williams and his film company ('Galaxie films') and Tea Leoni thinks that Allen will be the best choice to direct it. She convinces Williams and his friends and then the laugh riot starts! Allen meets his ex-wife and the decision makers of Galaxie films and seals the deal (with some very funny scenes!). Come the first day of shooting and Woody Allen becomes blind (psychosomatic blindness). The rest of the story revolves around how he (with Tea Leoni's help) keeps his blindness a secret from everyone else and manages to direct the film.

Woody Allen is very very funny and steals many a scene, with the best one being the one in which he meets Tea Leoni at a restaurant after he lands the directing job. Leoni supports him very well and Debra Messing ('Will and Grace') plays Allen's new (and not so bright) girlfriend. All the supporting actors are good, with the Chinese cameraman and his translator being the pick of the lot.

Needless to say, the film directed by the blind Woody Allen gets horrible reviews initially, but then there is a twist in the climax that justifies the title - 'Hollywood ending'. The funny moments keep the film up and running and in the end, this is surely worth watching at least once.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty self referential and funny, August 4, 2004

By 

Ian Muldoon (Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hollywood Ending (DVD)

I like Woody, I like this film, and I like his love of film. Mr Allen's love of human beings, his compassion and understanding of our foibles, vanities, and his own foibles and vanities, shine through this fine film. I also like his truth - in some ways he his almost anti-Hollywood in the sense that he does not try to cover up his physical deterioration, as if to say " Well, he I am and here you are, and are we going to make the journey with a joke or a whine?" To me, despite the jokes in the film about his character and being a great artist, I think he is one of America's great film makers, and a great humanitarian, with a deep understanding of his art, comedy and us. This is a good example of his work and worth owning.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant surprise, August 21, 2004

By 

T. murphy "funkyceli47" (east rockaway, new york United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hollywood Ending [VHS] (VHS Tape)

i was somewhat surprised by hollywood ending. it received so many bad reviews from critics that i went in not expecting much. but hollywood ending is easily one of woody's best film's in years, probably his best film since deconstructing harry.

many of woody's films are autobigraphical, and there's no question that woody is venting his frustrations at the movie industry and the american public when the #1 movie in america is alien vs. predator, and woody allen's movies barely break even in america. but he is still big in france, which he seems grateful for.

it's true that hollywood ending may not be hannah and her sisters or annie hall, but it's woody allen, and it's better than most of the crap out there today. thank fod for woody allen.