In the daffy new Henry Jaglom "sensitive guy" comedy Hollywood Dreams, an aspiring actress who may or may not be mentally unstable hooks up with a restless young stud being groomed as Tinseltown's next gay hope by a queer cabal. In act one Margie (Jaglom discovery Tanna Ferderick) is all twitchy and weepy auditioning for an off-screen director (Jaglom), then downright pathetic in a scene that might be described as the bulimic's guide to Mallomars. Evicted by her female roommates for blowing up their microwave, Margie is reduced to living in her car at the beach until a sudden wave of good karma throws her across the path of an older gentleman, Kaz (Zack Norman) walking a small dog. Flirting with the pooch and hustling Kaz, Margie finds herself sleeping on a white couch and then flirting with its owner, Robin (Justin Kirk).
The Hollywood Hills mansion where Margie's landed seems to be run entirely to benefit Robin's stab at stardom as an openly gay actor, under the auspices of an operatic coach, Luna (Karen Black). So imagine Margie's surprise when Robin starts making out with her as they hide in the back of a theatre watching a rehearsal of the play Margie so desperately wanted to be a part of. The kissing prompts Robin into a startling confession.
"I'm straight. I like girls."
"You don't have to lie to me."
"When I first came to Hollywood I was in class with Luna – and you know I like to flirt with everybody and she assumed that I was gay or didn't know and she saw the way that the gay men in class and the business reacted to me, (so) she got it in her head (that) I would be this hot new gay actor, and I would play all the gay parts, which I did – Rent, Boys in the Band – and it just kept rolling. I know six A-list actors in Hollywood who are gay and pretend to be straight. I'm the only person I can think of who's straight and pretends to be gay."
Margie and Zack quickly turn into an item, a development that frightens Robin's gay patrons – Kaz, Kaz's temperamental boyfriend Caesar (David Provol) and their mysterious silent partner Rupert (Seymour Cassel). As with most Jaglom films you'll have a jolly good time if you can stand oddly constructed storylines that sometimes tail off into thin air and a collection of characters who at times converse as if they were fronting a daytime talk show.
It's rare that actors or audiences really dig movie sex, so the obvious pleasure the leads get during their naked hot tub time allows us to enjoy the company of two people who are probably lying their asses off to us and each other, which meshes nicely with the loopy conceit of a Hollywood queer mafia that molests the careers of hunks like Robin.
Jaglom juggles juicy physical scenes with some equally tasty back story skeletons – Melissa Leo is delightful as Margie's Aunt Bee, freshly arrived from Iowa to disabuse Robin of the myths Margie's been spinning about her corn bred upbringing and the whereabouts of a mysterious cross-dressing younger brother.
Kirk maintains a perpetually ironic smirk while nimbly playing his reverse "coming out" card, with all its implicit references to his own spectacular queer acting resume – Angels in America, Love, Valor, Compassion – here's an actor clearly entering his most productive years making all the right uses of a spectacular late bloom of youth.
To love Jaglom you must endure his habit of spinning his female fables through the prism of his latest infatuation. Tanna Frederick makes her film splash here – this is literally her Hollywood dream. At times she's so raw it's unnerving – her nervous mannerisms and funny voices will strike some as bad acting – while at other times one senses the safety net of a character that she may don or shed at will in future adventures in Jaglom-land – reportedly they have already finished shooting a story where Frederick explores a peculiar daughter/father bond.
Jaglom has perfected his own brand of the Cassavetes art of making "home movies" that rise to the talent in the room. Kaz and Caesar are wonderfully daft as an older gay odd couple who communicate while practically mashing on their small dog. The male wedding that climaxes Dreams is a heterosexual female oriented director's window on a Hollywood, where men clutching small dogs are no longer insulting clich�s but a sweet commentary on mature love.
In a moment that spoofs last year's Sopranos lavender hit man subplot, as well as TV ads about erections lasting longer than four hours, Kaz and Caesar kibitz in bed about who's the better lover.
"You want me to take a pill? What are you laughing about? What do you think I'm a miracle worker?"
"Oh, you have to be such a miracle worker? You need a pill?"
"Yeah. Don't you?"
"No."
"Oh, come on, a sensitive, beautiful human being. What's this bullshit?"
"We're Sicilians. We've been invaded a lot. We can't be sensitive."