The Hollywood Complex The Hollywood Complex

Every spring, Hollywood hosts a very species-specific migration: kids. Thousands of aspiring child actors flock to Tinseltown for pilot season, the traditional casting period for new network and cable television shows. But unlike adult actors who pound the same star-lined pavement, kids come with their families. Many set up camp at the Oakwood, a temporary housing complex that caters to the showbiz flock. While their little Angelinas and mini Brads audition for armies of ruthless agents and TV executives, the parents must manage sky-high expectations and thin skins, including their own

Andrew Manley Rosie Forti Toni Casala John McCarthy Lynne Murphy Badgley Paul Petersen Carol Nicholson Alyssa Casa Amanda Petersen Alyssa Petersen

family documentary comedy

90 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • Douglas Scarpa

    Review by Douglas Scarpa ★★½

    A well-made look into the world of wannabe child stars. This isn't "Toddlers and Tiaras" or "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," and it's all better for it. It is, however, an honest portrayal of what kids and their parents will do to achieve the incredibly unlikely pipe dream of becoming a star. In the end, it seems to shift its focus too often, providing a more general overview of its world, rather than an in-depth look at these children and their families. We get little anecdotes or episodes about each one, and then swiftly veer off to another child, sometimes returning to previous subjects, sometimes not. Ultimately, an interesting documentary that can provide you with smiles, understanding, compassion, frustration and even anger.

  • Crystal

    Review by Crystal ★★★★

    I remember reading an article about this infamous apartment complex a while back and I was still pretty fascinated by the film. Kind of sad, at times darkly funny and vastly interesting. The filmmaking itself is standard but the doc is pretty great because of the subject.

  • stinkylulu

    Review by stinkylulu ★★½

    A fairly conventional documentary about the Oakwood Apartments. The most compelling moments are the glimpse inside the machinery of casting, with the meet&greets with agents and the unending cycle of pitches from folks in the business of helping aspiring actors get work. There is little about the documentary that is clearly critical, and it takes a basic shock/awe approach. The kid actors profiled are stock types, as are the parents. And the film falls into the same basic pattern of every mainstream treatment of this subject: rooting for the kids while viewing the parents as misguided/pathetic. The opening voiceover of the film wears a British accent, which suggests the point of view as being in that British-fascination-with-American-absurdity, but I'm not…