5 Nights in Hollywood (2009) – Review

Where to watch 5 Nights in Hollywood

1 Star

Originally titled The Harsh Life of Veronica Lambert, but changed to play up multiple story lines, 5 Nights in Hollywood is the story of a coked out loose group of friends who sleep around Hollywood. The story is structured like Crash, in which each character’s story is told separately, yet intertwined. The film opens with a great scene, shot with a frenzied energy, as movie producer Mr New York (Ed O’Ross – the bad guy from Red Heat) commits suicide after a media interview. It’s immediately downhill from there as the majority of screen-time is represented by the uninteresting Veronica Lambert (Ricki Noel Lander) story. Her life isn’t what’s harsh, she is. Basically she runs around doing coke, being a horrible person and trying to deal with her pregnancy with her married lover. The last half an hour consists of a loosely connected string of events that wrap up the film and are somewhat influenced by the opening scene.

I thought this movie would be about why Mr New York offed himself in the beginning, but instead that plays very little into the story, aside from his hand gun. Weakness is a big theme here, but I’m not sure why anyone would want to watch a movie about a bunch of vapid and weak spirited human beings. These characters are completely worthless and give us no reason to care. The dialogue is horrid and the acting adds nothing to it. Watch for a ridiculous abduction scene when Victoria’s best friend Maya (Ahna O’Reilly) gets in over her head during a coke deal. The following happenstance for her escape is completely out of the blue and the wait for an explanation is too long and the payoff too weak.

Ed O’Ross gives a good, but brief performance. In the end 5 Night in Hollywood left me wondering what the point was. I walked away from this movie with nothing, no animosity or care for the characters, no dissecting thoughts and not one lingering image in my mind. Even if you like split, intertwining stories like Crash or Pulp Fiction stay away from this stinker.

Director: Nick Agiashvili
Stars: Ed O’Ross, Ricki Noel Lander, Ahna O’Reilly