Tom Hulce is the guy who played Mozart in Amadeus, a film loved by
critics, film buffs, and the academy. It was also a box office
success, and is now considered one of the best of all time at IMDb. Hulce himself
was nominated as Best Actor, and might have won if he had not been
overshadowed by an even
better supporting portrayal in the same film by F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.
Hulce wasn't able to do anything with
his temporary success. His triumph didn't have the expected results,
scripts didn't fall into his lap, and his next theatrical film was
this mediocrity about a neighborhood of LA where everyone is trying to
be a star.
Neither a dashing leading man nor an
offbeat character actor, Hulce was one of the perfect
"everyman" actors, but these roles are not so common in Hollywood,
where simple, real films are rarely seen. When those roles did come
around, they went to younger guys like Cusack and Broderick, so the
multi-talented Hulce never again attained the commercial or
artistic successes of his earlier career.
This particular film seems to be a
sitcom pilot, and is kind of cute, about equal in quality to a good
episode of "Friends".
- Hulce is a pizza boy trying to
write songs. (By the way, he sings a few bars here and there, and is
terrific. He sounds like a white version of Peabo Bryson! As you may
know, he was Disney's singing Quasimodo, and will reprise his role
in Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, which is scheduled to come out in a
few months.)
- Susan Dey is a bartender trying to
be an actress. She gets part of the way there by doing stripping
telegrams.
- Their best friend works as a
personal trainer, but just knows he will be the next Schwarzenegger.
That's about all there is to it
except corny speeches about not abandoning your dreams.
Hulce seemed like he was in a
different movie from the rest of the cast. He was actually trying to
create a meaningful characterization, reaching for the soul of his
role, like the dedicated stage actor that he is, but the rest of the
cast apparently really did think they were in a sitcom, playing
everything for broad yucks accompanied by "Gilligan pulled another
boner" music, and so the movie has that sitcom feel.
