Hollywood Shuffle

Well, it’s been nearly 33 years since Hollywood Shuffle came out and its various critiques of Hollywood still largely hold true. Yes, the miniscule budget and ramshackle narrative structure mean that it is only as good as any particular satirical scene, but enough of them are smart and barbed to overcome these limitations. Perhaps it still holds so true because it came from a real place of frustration and daring.

Robert Townsend stars, directs, writes, and exhumes his own stories throughout. Bright, eager, talented, and capable of more than what the industry was providing, Townsend created his own opportunities through various favors and scrapping together his means. The fact that the resulting film is watchable at all is no small feat and a testament to this then untapped potential.

Knowing when to end a sketch is an elusive art that even the best in the business struggle with, and several points of Hollywood Shuffle go on for a few beats too long. These rough edges are also visible in the supporting roles who are largely underwritten or one-note characters. While Townsend is busy deriding the stereotypes that Hollywood asks black male actors to play, his critical eye doesn’t appear to expand to women and queer characters who can feel like the very thing he’s decrying. If he had it bad, imagine being a queer black man or woman in the era.

Something of a compromise yet still a huge triumph, Hollywood Shuffle was proof of an untapped talent waiting to shake things up. Townsend has since gone off to a solid career alternating between writing, directing, and acting. This will probably go down as his greatest triumph, which is as it should be.