User Reviews

An erotic thriller (not soft core) producer has his misogyny catch up to him on his latest set which includes actual killings in which he is a suspect.

The film is designed to be a comedy featuring the nudity of India Allen. It was light in both aspects. This film is now available on DVD in "B" film multi-packs.

F-word, nudity (India Allen, Rachel Dyer, Dale Roberts, Wendi Westbrook? + others)

After this movie, Crown International Pictures took nine years off. I will tell you that that is not because this is a good movie and they felt they'd done all they could do. Quite the opposite.

However, in my endless quest to watch every single film they ever released, as well as my slavish addiction to Mill Creek box sets, I find myself here, struggle watching this supposed satire on Hollywood.

This is all about a producer of exploitation and sex videos who suddenly is accused of killing one of his star's boyfriends and his mistress. It's a wacky sendup of what I can only assume it was like making movies in 1994.

I mean, this is a movie that pokes fun at the erotic thriller genre, with the character Abdu clearly an analog of Ashok Amritraj, Menahem Golan and Yorum Globus. As played by Greg Rhodes from Ghosthouse and Deadly Manor, he's a filmmaker who is pretty much making post-adult Gregory Dark movies, except this makes me wistful for Gregory Dark movies.

In a meta move, India Allen, who was Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1988, as well as in movies like Silk Degrees and Wild Cactus, plays herself.

Michael Weaver, who wrote and directed this, also shot Dark Eyes and The Sender as well as directing two segments in the movie Night Terror before heading off to do TV work, working as the DP on Pushing Daisies and directing episodes of Californication and Good Girls.

I'll do anything for Crown International and Mill Creek, I guess. Even this.

I have this film as part of the 'Rare Cult Cinema' DVD pack that I bought on a whim and contains films I've never heard of. This is the first one I watched and I am now hoping there are others as good in the pack (though I suspect not). The only problem was that the last 10 minutes of the DVD didn't work properly so I had to watch it jittering and jumping about - damn annoying as I was really enjoying the film!

I can see in 2 other reviews this film has been criticised for being low budget and therefore has flat lighting, bad acting etc. Well, what do you expect from such low budget fare? If you want Kubrick, go watch Kubrick. Don't come to films like this expecting high production values, atmospheric lighting and Oscar-worthy performances! I am thankful for low budget film-making because high quality Hollywood productions get boring - they all look and feel the same. This was like a breath of fresh air!

I for one enjoyed the flat lighting and cheap sets. I didn't care about those things because that is not what this film is for. This film is for people who enjoy seeing behind the scenes of films (in this case, low budget 'erotic thrillers') and can laugh at the stereotypes without taking it all too seriously. Every role and every person is made fun of - writers, directors, actors, producers, financiers, cinematographers etc etc. But it all feels good-natured and not done out of spite. It was funny to see how desperate every character was and how they all thought they were better than they are. I really enjoyed every character in this film. The script was also good and there are many funny lines. I laughed to hear the classic phrase "...but what I really want to do is direct."

There are probably other films that make fun of Hollywood and/or the world of low budget film making but other than Living in Oblivion I haven't seen any. However, Almost Hollywood is far superior to LiO because it deals with the same stereotypes but does it in a funnier, light hearted manner whereas LiO is quite bitter and therefore less fun to watch.

I enjoyed this film BECAUSE of the low production values, bad acting etc. and will not mark it down because of this, the way other reviewers seem to have done. I really enjoyed it and would watch it again. It is also a good film to watch with mates who can appreciate desperate Hollywood stereotypes.

"Almost Hollywood" is almost a really good movie – but not quite! For an independent production, the script is both ambitious but muddled by so many sub-plots, it's difficult to relate to the main story. The actors seem both competent yet seemingly out of place, although I did like the director guy who pretended to be an Indian. His accent was so convincing that he had me fooled too! And all the women were certainly worth seeing. I was surprised that one reviewer found all the characters repulsive. Admittedly, the hero is definitely an anti-hero. But I didn't find him all that repulsive. I could even work up a bit of sympathy for him! And I liked all the women. Any one of them can make a date with me any time! Available on an excellent Mill Creek DVD.