This is an interesting and ambitious feature that has much to recommend it--and a fair number of strikes against it, too. On the credit side, James Coco is outstanding in the lead role of Jolly Grimm, an aging screen comic desperate to make a comeback. He's ably supported by David Dukes as his straight arrow screen collaborator and especially by Royal Dano as his lanky and loyal personal assistant. The story is simple but interesting, the silent film footage of Brother Jasper expertly mounted, and there's an eerily effective and almost otherworldly performance by the unheralded Annette Ferra as an ambitious young dancer.
And now for the not so good news: despite a praiseworthy attempt to drape this in Roaring '20s ambiance, a few too many 1970s anachronisms--clothing wise and hairstyle wise--creep distractingly into the background, the original songs are generally mediocre, and the sensational sex scenes are gratuitous at best. The result is a somewhat schizophrenic production that uneasily tries to balance a serious story with five minutes of over the top group grope scenes which will offend some and disappoint others. There's enough here to render these scenes superfluous, but even with their inclusion the film remains a fine character study that will hold the attention of those interested in the history--apocryphal or otherwise--of early Hollywood.
And now for the not so good news: despite a praiseworthy attempt to drape this in Roaring '20s ambiance, a few too many 1970s anachronisms--clothing wise and hairstyle wise--creep distractingly into the background, the original songs are generally mediocre, and the sensational sex scenes are gratuitous at best. The result is a somewhat schizophrenic production that uneasily tries to balance a serious story with five minutes of over the top group grope scenes which will offend some and disappoint others. There's enough here to render these scenes superfluous, but even with their inclusion the film remains a fine character study that will hold the attention of those interested in the history--apocryphal or otherwise--of early Hollywood.