Hollywood North (2003)

(On Cable TV, May 2021) By my count, Jennifer Tilly has now played three roles (Hollywood North, Made in Romania, Bride of Chucky) in which she pokes fun at moviemaking, often playing “herself” along the way. It’s not a lot in a career that already spans five decades (!) and ninety-some movies, but it’s enough for a triple feature. The links between Hollywood North and Made in Romania are particularly interesting, as both movies attempt to portray the inner working of the making of a film from the producer’s perspective at different periods. In Hollywood North, we go back to 1979ish Toronto, as a Canadian producer purchases the rights to an acclaimed work of Canadian literature and almost immediately has to make compromises in order to get the film going. Hiring an ultra-patriotic American action star in the middle of the Iranian Embassy hostage crisis isn’t the best idea, and the problems around the production escalate with an unfortunate accident that takes out a supporting actor, embezzlement of funds from another filmmaker, weather woes, script changes, and an on-set affair that annoys everyone. Matthew Modine stars as a producer trying to keep the entire production together, with supporting roles from Tilly (playing a sultry actress) and Deborah Kara Unger as a documentary filmmaker associated with the production. Hollywood North is reasonably entertaining even if it’s rough around the edges. The limits of the budget are obvious, and never more so in an overambitious climax that half-works and then half-doesn’t. Still, it’s amusing enough to be worth a look if you’re the kind of person interested in movies about filmmaking, even if the comedy gets a bit broad at times. Tilly is wonderful — Try to pair Hollywood North with Made in Romania for a contemporary update on low-budget filmmaking, thirty years later.