
Bobby Taylor wants to be a respected actor. From Sam Spade to Shakespeare to superheros, he can do it all. He just has to convince Hollywood that gangstas, slaves and "Eddie Murphy-types" aren't the sum of his talents.... (Full plot summary below)
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Bobby Taylor wants to be a respected actor. From Sam Spade to Shakespeare to superheros, he can do it all. He just has to convince Hollywood that gangstas, slaves and "Eddie Murphy-types" aren't the sum of his talents.
Leave your thoughts about Hollywood Shuffle.
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAn exuberant satire, uneven but tirelessly energetic, with the kind of comic bluster that can override any lapse. It's funny, ragged, appealingly mean-spirited and very easy to like, even if it plays as a series of skits rather than a coherent whole. |
| Washington PostRichard HarringtonThe film has some clumsy scenes, and sometimes the director overcrowds his comedy. The remarkable thing, however, is that for a mere $100,000, Townsend and company have made a funny, poignant and technically proficient film -- one that should thoroughly embarrass those studios that routinely offer up badly made, multimillion-dollar disasters. |
| LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen...presaged a revolution that never came. |
| Los Angeles TimesSheila BensonHollywood Shuffle is boisterous, out-at-the elbows movie making, an uneven series of skits, really, rather than a consistent whole. But there are wonderful comic moments here, alongside ones that droop from having gone on too long. And pervading the film is an unquenchable air--of optimism, even of community, which uses comedy to address some grievous inequities. |
| Film4Film4 StaffHollywood Shuffle is very uneven, the work of an inexperienced first-time director with a lot of unfocused talent. |
| EmpireWilliam ThomasLikeable Robert Townsend — who also co-wrote and directed — is a delight in this patchy but consistently enjoyable chronicle of a young black actor’s efforts to crack Hollywood. |
| Time Out LondonGeoff AndrewDespite the film's conspicuously minuscule budget and shaky narrative structure, it is funny. If you value enthusiasm and imagination more than glossy sophistication, you'll laugh. |
| Lawrence Journal-WorldJon NiccumMore interesting in retrospect for its legitimate central message than its entertainment value |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertUnder the circumstances, Hollywood Shuffle is an artistic compromise but a logistical triumph, announcing the arrival of a new talent whose next movie should really be something. |
| Chicago TribuneGene SiskelIt's a pleasant enough diversion, in an amateurishly personal sort of way, though Townsend's frequent recycling of actors (for reasons of budget rather than laughs) makes for some odd Pirandellian confusions. |