Hollywood Shuffle - Movie Review

By
Adonis Monahan
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Hollywood Shuffle

Released in 1987, Hollywood Shuffle was basically Robert Townsend’s baby; he wrote, directed, and starred in the film, even helping to finance it by using his own credit card.

It’s a labor of love that offers a funny and trenchant analysis of the portrayal of African Americans in popular American entertainment. In some ways - sadly - things haven’t changed all that much.

So, while it would be easy to dismiss this tale as a bit out of date, the truth is that stereotyping, racial profiling, and tasteless misrepresentations in Hollywood still dominate.

The film lampoons Hollywood’s perceptions of African American entertainers, and it tells a cogent story while also dabbling in some truly surreal imagery. Bobby Taylor, played by Townsend, is an aspiring actor who works in a hot dog stand by day, nursing dreams of becoming a major actor by night.

Instead, he is given awfully stereotypical roles which he regrettably takes, earning the ire of his grandmother (whom he lives with) and a host of other characters.

https://revyou.com/uploads/thumbnail-960/1600438173208Hollywood_Shuffle2.webp Hollywood Shuffle - Movie Review

While Hollywood Shuffle functions as a comedy - and a hilarious one at that - it offers some insidery views on the industry’s machinations and how it views minorities in general.

The window into that scene is fairly discouraging, but the note of hope offered is Bobby’s attempts to steer clear and eventually become a better role model for his younger brother.

While the film was made on a shoestring budget, it gained a lot of traction with critics and also became a modest box office hit. Hollywood Shuffle is so side-splittingly funny that it can be easy to gloss over its central message.

However, it’s exactly what carries the film and makes it so affecting, as we watch Bobby move from one strange encounter to another on different movie sets.

An excellent rather neglected gem from the late 1980s, Hollywood Shuffle definitely deserves a second look.