Bill Slocum A weak movie that celebrates weak movies, "It Came From Hollywood" presents clips from more than a half-century of movies, most bad, some not, presented in the form of themes hosted by popular comedians of the day.Sometimes, the result is amusing. Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong work their stoner screen personas to solid effect watching clips of famous drug cautionary films like "Reefer Madness." I don't care for Cheech & Chong generally but found their work here entertaining in a low-burn way.A clip from the Ed Wood classic "Plan Nine From Outer Space" features Dudley Manlove pondering an attack on mankind: "As long as these humans think, we'll have our problems."Cut to Chong at the ticket window: "I want my money back." Alas, that's as much as I can offer in the way of positive comment about the interstitial sketches which make up the original content in this film. That's a shame because I am a fan of both Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner from their "Saturday Night Live" heyday and John Candy of SCTV. They make up the other three players introducing the recycled content here. Seeing Gilda and Danny relive their small- screen glories playing SNL characters like Judy Miller and a short- fused detective should be more fun than it is.Some reviewers here see a connection between "It Came From Hollywood" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000," which ran bad movies over caustic commentary that was often funny. But the blog Dead 2 Rights has it right: This is a cracked remake of films of the prior decade like "That's Entertainment." Producer-directors Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo are out for cheap yuks.Instead of overblown reverence, you get easy scorn for silly B- movies about rampaging gorillas and brains that fly around and attack people."C'mon, honey, you want it and you know it," Aykroyd says over footage of a woman being jumped by a brain in "Fiend Without A Face." "Don't be a brainteaser."Chuckles do come, but never develop into anything more, the way they so often did on MST3K with their zany sketches and running gags. The clips are more interesting for curiosity value, like a chance to see Rosey Grier try to sell the idea of having Ray Milland's head attached to his body in "The Thing With Two Heads.""This picture started the black street fad of wearing middle-aged white men," Aykroyd explains.The inclusion of clips from classic films like "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and good genre flicks like "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" is annoying, though, as are any of the sequences featuring Radner, as lost here as she did in any other movie she made."The movie theaters just show scary monster movies so you drop all your popcorn and candy on the floor and they put in back in the boxes and resell it," she explains as her Judy Miller character.A decent sequence showcases two Ed Wood films, "Plan Nine" and "Glen Or Glenda?" It's hosted by Candy, who makes the fair point that it's hard to make a movie when there's no budget. If the rest of the film followed this more explanatory approach, rather than generally commenting on the weak plots and overacting, it could be worth your time.To be fair, "It Came From Hollywood" came from 1982, the year of David Letterman's late-night debut when snarky irony became suddenly fashionable. Snarky irony is mostly what you get here, and while it works at times, it isn't enough to make it that interesting.

mrb1980 "It Came From Hollywood" makes its main point--that some older movies are really pretty bad--then beats its audience to death with that point for 80 minutes. Hollywood comedy narrators Dan Aykroyd, Cheech and Chong, John Candy, and Gilda Radner simply spend the film telling us how bad these movies are, as unrelated, seemingly random clips from the films are shown. The movie's so dumb that it even includes sequences from good films such as "The Incredible Shrinking Man", which is rightfully regarded as a 1950s sci-fi classic.The celebrity narrators aren't even that funny, while they remind us over and over (and over) that some movies are just plain awful. The film finally rambles to an awkward ending--including John Candy laughing while his jowls and stomach shake--leaving the audience with a message of...what happened? I hope the famous narrators were well paid. Do yourself a favor and just watch the old films instead. They're a lot funnier than this piece of junk.

squeezebox I've always enjoyed this hodge-podge of "bad" movie scenes and previews. But only for the previews themselves. Unfortunately, this movie takes a very smug and pompous attitude toward its subject matter, largely due to the fact that Golden Turkey Award creator Michael and Harry Medved were "advisors" on the project. Anyone who is a real fan of these movies enjoys them for the silly schlock that they are. The Medveds revel in ridiculing and lampooning them with no appreciation for them at all. Surprisingly, this is the sense one gets from hosts Dan Aykroyd and John Candy, two performers one would think would have a special place in their hearts for these classics.Only Cheech and Chong and Gilda Radner seem to get into the spirit of things. While Candy and Aykroyd poke fun and insult the movies, Cheech, Chong and Radner play along with them, and create some genuine laughs.But the real stars are the clips themselves, which are great fun and great nostalgia. Oddly, amid these "bad" movies are such recognized classics as THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Scenes from outrageously over-the-top cautionary films about sex and marijuana are utterly hilarious.Highlights are Chong ordering a truckload of candy at the concession stand and Radner doing her little girl schtick from Saturday night live.

Driver-5 I've read a lot of negative reviews of IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD since it was first released, but I have to admit, I think it's hilarious. The film is broken into several sections, each introduced by one or more of the comedians. for example, John Candy pays tribute to Ed Wood (Including a remake of the "coming out" scene from GLEN OR GLENDA with Dan Aykroyd), Cheech and Chong introducing clips from the likes of THE COCAINE FIENDS, etc. Some of the clips drag, some clips have been "doctored" to seem even sillier then they really are, but with the likes of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and MARS NEEDS WOMEN on display, there are some great moments.