Lou Costello

(On Cable TV, August 2021) You know exactly what you’re going to get with an Abbott and Costello film, and so Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood delivers on what fans are looking for. I, myself, was watching because I’m a sucker for everything Hollywood does about Hollywood — not necessarily because I’m a fan of the comedy duo. Although the result is definitely light on Hollywood satire, it’s very much a showcase for the comic pair. (Indeed, it’s the first of many of their movies to have their names in the title.)  The premise has something to do with barbers stumbling into becoming talent agents, but much of the film is about stringing together comic routines. It works, but as someone who was watching to get a sense of how Hollywood worked back then (even as a caricature), I’m left disappointed. Sure, there’s a big sequence about one of the duo being used as a prop for a stunt sequence… and yet, the number of celebrity cameos is low, with the film regularly goes for gags that could have taken place anywhere but in Hollywood. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was a bigger fan of the duo — but maybe it’ll make more sense once I start digging into their filmography.