Product Details

• Actors: Victoria Abril, Joe Avellar, Jason Beghe, Susan Campos, John Cothran Jr.
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Surround Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: October 26, 2004
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002V7OFQ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93,351 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Jimmy Hollywood" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Barry Levinson wrote and directed this dark, nervous comedy about fame and misfortune. Against all the odds, it's his most searching, most carefree project in years, a return to the robustness of "Diner" and "Tin Men." Joe Pesci does his jumpy, unstoppable number as Jimmy Alto, a would-be actor stuck on the wrong side of Hollywood with nothing but his hopes. He used to be an aluminum-siding salesman, one of Levinson's Tin Men, so you know that he'll never give up. Jimmy and the dopey William (Christian Slater), a sidekick without much kick, truss up a local thief, dump him in front of the police station, and thereby, without really trying, launch a new vigilante group on the streets of L.A. Jimmy's girlfriend (Victoria Abril) is horrified, but this mad and pathetic tough-guy act is his ticket to stardom-it works. Levinson doesn't just follow this break for freedom; he leads the way, letting his camera run ahead of the script and tell its own tale of promise and disappointment. It takes a bright-eyed director, for instance, to make a chase sequence look fresh, but somehow, with a zippy tracking shot and frantic closeups of pounding feet, Levinson does it. The movie goes on too long, and the ending is milked too heavily for irony, but it makes you sit up and watch-it's serious fun. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Product Description

In JIMMY HOLLYWOOD a young Jimmy Alto (Pesci) moves to Hollywood from New Jersey to try to make it as an actor. With circumstances progressing nowhere, an unemployed Jimmy resorts to stealing from his girlfriend when he needs money. When someone breaks into his car and steals his radio, he and his friend William (Slater) begin staking out the neighborhood in hopes of catching the thief. This new operation gives birth to the S.O.S. (Save Our Streets) organization that ultimately gives Jimmy a sudden taste of fame.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jimmy Alto.."Actor Extraordinaire" or GET A GRIP!, December 1, 2002

By	L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (fountain valley, ca United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Jimmy Hollywood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Director Barry Levinson("Rain Man"),brings us this quirky comedy of life in the not so glamorous side of Hollywood. Joe Pesci plays Jimmy Alto, "Actor Extraordinaire". He knows it, his pal William(Christian Slater) knows it, it even says that exact thing on the bus stop ad he has invested in(using his girlfriend's money). Alas no one else in Hollywood has seemed to discover this brillant acting talent yet!

It seems the criminal element in his neighborhood make a much better living stealing car radios and such, then he does. When his girlfriend(Victoria Abril) is mugged and Jimmy's car is broken into("Why does anyone bother rolling up their windows, ya just have to pay to fix em when they rob your radio?"),Jimmy and William, who's a little on the slow side, decide to start video taping the criminals and turning them over to the police.And not just the tapes, the perps are delivered as well.This action turns into the biggest break in Jimmy's career he could ever hope for.

The police assume that some big time vigalante group is responsible for these actions, and Jimmy seeing at as the role of a lifetime makes himself over as "Jericho" the leader of this group, and really gets into "method acting".He's thrilled as he see's himself(in disguise) on all the news shows. He's finally got some attention! Pretty soon the police and the criminals are after "Jericho" and Jimmy must decide on an ending for this story.It's all very "Hollywood" right up to the end,and you should at least stay for the beginning of the credits as there are some great surprise cameos.

Joe Pesci is marvelous as the stuggling actor who is enthralled with the great movie stars of the past. Christian Slater plays the spacey William perfectly, and Victoria Abril has a great chemistry with Pesci and is wonderful as the girlfriend who can only sit back and say in her delightful Spanish accent"Are you out of your mind?!"

The film is alot of fun, the musical soundtrack is great, and the VHS has a nice picture and sounds terrifc in the Hi-Fi Stereo. I would even say 4 and 1/2 stars if the film hadn't been "formatted to fit your screen", but still very much worth the view.

If you've ever had a dream..this film is for you....Laurie

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Familiar but enjoyable story of "making it" in Hollywood, January 26, 2001

By	Thomas M. Sipos (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jimmy Hollywood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Joe Pesci plays Jimmy Alto, an Average Joe from New Jersey who came to Hollywood to become a star. But Golden Age Hollywood is no more. Instead of glamour, Jimmy found a seedy town. Instead of fame, he's become one of thousands of unemployed actors.

It's an old story, but enjoyable to anyone who's shared Jimmy's dream. Probably less so for anyone who doesn't much care about "behind the scenes" Hollywood.

Then Jimmy Alto (aka Jimmy Hollywood to his buddies back in New Jersey) captures the thief who stole his car radio and dumps him off at police hq -- anonymously. When this inadvertantly makes him a vigalante celebrity, he decides he's found his "role of a lifetime." He continues his vigalantism, upsetting police and criminals alike, while to him it's merely a "role," and the cheering citizens, his "audience."

A bit overlong, and it hits some very old observations on Hollywood past and present, but not a bad film. Spanish actress Victoria Abril is delightful as his girlfriend with dreams of becoming a "hairdresser to the stars."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "press" & " public" &" over zealous" police &one good actor, June 4, 2005

By	A. B. Jackson "andreabjackson" (Yeadon, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jimmy Hollywood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

6/04/05 Comcast Cable 's HBO Channel's repay of this movie was a true "due" for all the replays of bad movies that they rerun.."Jimmy Hollywood" starring Joe Pesci,Christian Slater and Victoria Arril had something few movies have "No anti-climax"..As he(Jooe Pesci) repeats his rehearsal lines before facing the hyped police outside the California Egyptian Theatre,who are looking forward with "press /media prompting" to confront "Jerico"of the SOS membership a/k/a Jimmy Alto(the actor),who never got the break of a Brando or Cagney.. vs attending to "crime in the streets" etc. he keeps repeating the Lines "What You Going to Kill Me, Everybody dies"... In this time before the confrontation due to portable TV, he sees "fans" like he would want for the 1st time .Fortunately his friends played by actor Christian Slater(who had to delay his fugitive run from the city to keep his appointment for the 17th of the month "MRI")leaves the California Egyptian theatre,and his girlfriend Lorraine (played by Victoria Avril) lets the police know that "the actor Jimmy Alto" gun contained only blank..Thus 150 police don't shot at him as he leaves the Egyptian theatre.The movie's ending is the "stuff that kept the movie industry surviving strongly for so long".