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In the vein of Swimming with Sharks, Hijacking Hollywood is one of those dark comedies that is definitely funnier if you're familiar with the inner workings of the movie industry. A kid (Henry Thomas) from the Midwest with a film degree, a script, and a dream goes to Hollywood and a familial connection gets him a job as a production assistant on a big-budget film. Rather than turn into a 1930s Busby Berkeley musical in which moxie, talent, and a few lucky breaks take him to the top with an all-singing, all-dancing finale, the film takes a dark turn as he runs into the typically abusive Hollywood hierarchy. As Thomas takes the abuse, gets a feel for the geography, and learns to read between the lines on loosely defined doublespeak like "in development," he becomes fed up. He also realizes how easy it would be to accomplish the hijacking caper that gives this film its name. Although certain elements of the film do have that it's-funny-because-it's-true quality, the film has a tendency to replay the joke until it ceases to be funny. The best performance comes from Mark Metcalf, who seems most authentic as an overblown producer with an ego as big as his budgets. Thomas, on the other hand, seems to have the same expression on his face most of the time, and Scott Thompson's cackling production coordinator feels way too forced, particularly with the cackles. Hijacking Hollywood is decidedly low budget, even going so far as to have an official Web site with Geocites listed on the video box, when hijackinghollywood.com is (at the time of this writing) available for registration and would cost the producers as little as $300 to register and run for two years. --Greg Bulmash
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