Hollywood

This is a piece of shit. One of the worst, most self masturbatory, and emotionally manipulative shows I have ever seen. I love it. "Hollywood" is Ryan Murphy's attempt at rewriting the timeline of cinema and asking “what if the movies could change the world?” Murphy envisions an alternate reality where the push for diversity and equity in film comes decades before our age, and makes somewhat okay commentary on the importance of representation for underrepresented and oppressed minority groups on the screen. What if a Black actress won Best Actress at the Academy Awards decades before Halle Berry? What if Anna May Wong finally got her due? What if the first ever mainstream homosexual film was made in Hollywood’s Golden Age? Wrapped in this very idealistic view of Old Hollywood are some fun performances and horrifically ham-fisted and unsubtle writing. If you skip to any point in the series you will find some of the dumbest writing I have ever seen. A character remarks “Have you heard of the goddamn Hayes Code!?” in an era of American cinema long before the establishment of the Hayes Code. Darren Criss’ character reveals he’s half Asian to Jeremy Pope’s Black and gay character to show he’s down for the cause and said character is comically shocked. A straight character’s response to being propositioned for gay sex in exchange for stardom is to do a longwinded monologue about morals while Jim Parsons has his pants down. Why is Rock Hudson Rock Hudson while almost everyone else is fictional? Why does the other real person who coerced young closeted men for sex in exchange for fame have a redemption arc? Why is he the only bad person, and everyone else is conveniently disgusted by him? Why make this show at all? There are some redeeming qualities. I think most of the performances are wonderful and do a lot with the material given. David Corenswet is going to be an outstanding Superman. In this show he plays a very moral character who’s incredibly earnest and sweet; he’s going to be THE Clark Kent. Jeremy Pope is going on to do great things, Laura Harrier is wonderful and so is Samara Weaving. Patti LuPone chews up every scene she’s in, and there are a few other solid performances. I want to love Darren Criss but I think Ryan Murphy keeps trying too hard to make him become a big star and I just don’t buy it. Funnily enough, I think Criss is a great choice for Superman (and he does pretty alright in the animated Tomorrowverse films)! I think he just needs to spend some time back on Broadway.