Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 3,968
My Rating
Movie Info
This satirical look at the ambivalent relationship between Hollywood power brokers and African-American performers marked the writing, producing, and directing debut of Robert Townsend. The filmmaker also stars as Bobby Taylor, a struggling actor looking for his big break despite his family's and co-workers' reservations about his chosen career path. While working a day job flipping burgers, Bobby heads out to insulting cattle calls where white casting agents pass judgement on whether he seems
Jul 24, 2001
Virgin Vision
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Cast
-
Robert Townsend
Bobby Taylor, Jasper, S... -
Anne-Marie Johnson
Lydia/Willie Mae/Hooker... -
Starletta DuPois
Bobby's Mother -
Helen Martin
Bobby's Grandmother -
Craigus R. Johnson
Stevie Bobby's Brother -
Dom Jack Irrera
Writer -
Paul Mooney
NAACP President -
Lisa Mende
Casting Director -
Robert Shafer
Commercial Director -
John Witherspoon
Mr. Jones -
Ludie Washington
Tiny -
Keenen Ivory Wayans
Donald/Jerry Curl -
Franklyn Ajaye
Body Guard #1 -
Jesse Aragon
Audition Actor/Student ... -
Jim Beaver
Postal Worker -
Conni Marie Brazelton
Hooker -
Verda Bridges
Audition Actor/Bessie/H... -
Wren T. Brown
Picketer #2 -
Grand L. Bush
Mandingo Ricky Taylor/H... -
Michael Colyar
Body Guard #3 -
Sarah Katie Coughlin
Sitcom Girl Friend -
Richard Cummings Jr.
Slave #3/Hood #1 -
Tony Edwards
Audition Actor/Eddie Mu... -
Roy Fegan
Jesse Wilson, Slave #2,... -
Marc Figueroa
Client #2, Sitcom Fathe... -
Eugene Robert Glazer
Director -
Myra J.
Picketer #1 -
Lorrie Marlow
Hooker #2/Reporter -
Bobby McGee
Audition Actor/Zombie P... -
David McKnight
Uncle Ray -
Lydia Nicole
Make-Up Woman -
Brad Sanders
Batty Boy -
Nick Stewart [Nicodemus]
Cookie's Father -
Le Tari
Rudy -
Damon Wayans
Body Guard #2/Willie -
Kim Wayans
Customer in Chair -
Jimmy Woodard
Advance Student/Basketb... -
-
Carl Craig
Audition Actor/Basketba... -
Rusty Cundieff
Audition Actor/Slave #1... -
Donald Douglass
Basketball Player/Eddie... -
Sena Ayn Black
Receptionist -
Michael Conn
Teacher #2/Police Detec... -
Christopher Jackson
Punk #1 -
E.J. Murray
Actor in Audition -
Don Reed
Maurice -
Nancy Scher
Client #1 -
Steven Fertig
Agent #2 -
-
-
Nancy Cheryl Davis
Audition Actor, Hooker -
Steve W. James
Hood #3 -
-
Michael Smith
Student #2/Zombie Pimp -
-
-
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All Critics (23) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (3) | DVD (2)
Brimming with imagination and energy, Hollywood Shuffle is the kind of shoestring effort more appealing in theory than execution.
Top CriticImprov talent Robert Townsend is pretty much the whole show.
Despite the film's conspicuously minuscule budget and shaky narrative structure, it is funny. If you value enthusiasm and imagination more than glossy sophistication, you'll laugh.
Mr. Townsend has taken aim at the industry's funny bone and struck a solid blow.
For a mere $100,000, Townsend and company have made a funny, poignant and technically proficient film -- one that should thoroughly embarrass those studios that routinely offer up badly made, multimillion-dollar disasters.
Under the circumstances, Hollywood Shuffle is an artistic compromise but a logistical triumph, announcing the arrival of a new talent whose next movie should really be something.
Townsend's low-budget indie is quite a poignant satire of the Hollywood industry and black stereotyping
Always enjoyable and Townsend is great.
Although haphazardly paced and scattershot in approach, when it works, this satire on Hollywood's attitudes toward African-Americans is downright hilarious.
Instead of bile it has humor, which is the more reliable means of conveying a message.
The movie isn't perfect, but it provides some genuine laughs and some real food for thought.
Hollywood Shuffle is very uneven, the work of an inexperienced first-time director with a lot of unfocused talent.
More interesting in retrospect for its legitimate central message than its entertainment value
Slyly funny satire on the the Hollywood race game.
Audience Reviews for Hollywood Shuffle
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