Comedy

Lionsgate has as good a collection of catalog titles as any studio out there.  Many of these films have not yet been given the high definition Blu-ray treatment for one reason or another. So I'm sitting here trying to figure out how a trivial film like Ladybugs jumped the line and finds itself in a barebones release on Blu-ray this month. I'm sure that the movie has its fans. Of course, I've never met any of them, but I gotta believe that they're out there ... somewhere.

Don't get me wrong. I love Rodney Dangerfield. He's one of the few guests on Letterman who got me to be sure to schedule my DVR. I don't get to watch such things often, because I spend a large part of my entertainment time watching films for you guys. I know. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. Yeah, I laugh about it all the time with my friends and family who have real jobs. Usually, they don't think that one's so funny. Except sometimes this really is a tough job. And, you want to know what else isn't so funny? Ladybugs. It's a bad sign when I find myself laughing hardest at a scene where Rodney's behind a dressing room curtain with Jonathan Brandis, and he's sounding like a pedophile to a shopper who misunderstands what she sees and hears. When that's the high point of any film, you've really gotta question the value of the kinds of things you're watching.

I get the impression that things didn't quite work out for Joe Pesci the way he might have originally intended. There's a heart of a serious actor buried somewhere deep under the makeup of a clown.  Who can forget the dead-eyed killer Tommy from Goodfellas? Most of us have that restaurant scene engraved in our heads where Tommy asked the immortal question "Do I amuse you?" Well ... Joe, actually, you do. And putting aside his initial role of Joey in Raging Bull and the aforementioned Tommy with its carbon-copied Casino character, Pesci has made the most noise by amusing us. Whether it was playing the title character in the hilarious My Cousin Vinny or the reluctant police snitch Leo Getz in the Lethal Weapon films, as much as he scared the crap out of us in Goodfellas, we've spent a lot more time laughing when Joe Pesci was up on the big screen. Jimmy Hollywood is certainly not the best of these funny roles, but it merits honorable mention.

Jimmy (Pesci) is one of the thousands of actor hopefuls that have come to Hollywood in search of stardom. It's all he thinks about. He even takes out an ad on a bus stop bench, expecting Hollywood big shots to be ringing his phone off the hook with starring roles. The truth is that Jimmy is more than a little naive. He's memorized the order of the stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and he can sit mesmerized by old Hollywood documentaries. Still, he's not recognized for whatever talent he believes he possesses. The truth is that Jimmy really pines for a Hollywood that doesn't even exist anymore. He's looking for that Golden Era with the likes of Cagney and Robinson. He's looking for streets that glitter like gold. Instead, he finds the streets are infested with criminals. His girlfriend Lorraine is robbed at gunpoint on her way home from the beauty parlor where she works. When his car is broken into and his stereo stolen, he decides to take drastic action. If the cops can't stop the criminals, then he will. Along with his best friend and cameraman William, who is somewhat mentally only half there, he stakes out the streets waiting for the serial stereo thief to try for another stereo. They record the crook in the act, tape a confession complete with the address of his fence and tie the guy up and leave him, the stereos, and the tape at the steps of the police department. William signs the label-maker note SOS, and before long the police believe a major vigilante group is at work in Hollywood.