I'm From Hollywood is just about as thorough a synopsis of Andy Kaufman's wrestling career as a 60-minute mockumentary could ever hope to be. It begins on a huge high note, covering Andy's early career via a series of tongue in cheek interviews with big name co-stars and close friends, stretching the truth while maintaining an anchor in reality a'la This is Spinal Tap. It's when the subject turns to his exploits in the Memphis wrestling scene, though, that the picture pulls a complete 180. Those celebrity chats quickly disappear, replaced by direct archival footage of the matches and promotional segments that eventually built to Kaufman's long-term feud with a very young Jerry Lawler.
That’s great in a sheerly historical sense, but considering the rivalry lasted for well over a year (in regular once-a-week installments) there's a lot of redundancy to this material that really should have been cut out. I would have rather seen a continuation of those interviews spliced in with the raw footage to keep the commentary fresh and the pace quick, because this catches a terrible case of the drags at the midway point that it never manages to shake. It's a major disappointment that the producers couldn't secure the rights to Kaufman and Lawler's infamous fight on Letterman, too, which was the real hook of the entire storyline. A true let-down.
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2020-02-06T19:35:28Z
I'm From Hollywood is just about as thorough a synopsis of Andy Kaufman's wrestling career as a 60-minute mockumentary could ever hope to be. It begins on a huge high note, covering Andy's early career via a series of tongue in cheek interviews with big name co-stars and close friends, stretching the truth while maintaining an anchor in reality a'la This is Spinal Tap. It's when the subject turns to his exploits in the Memphis wrestling scene, though, that the picture pulls a complete 180. Those celebrity chats quickly disappear, replaced by direct archival footage of the matches and promotional segments that eventually built to Kaufman's long-term feud with a very young Jerry Lawler.
That’s great in a sheerly historical sense, but considering the rivalry lasted for well over a year (in regular once-a-week installments) there's a lot of redundancy to this material that really should have been cut out. I would have rather seen a continuation of those interviews spliced in with the raw footage to keep the commentary fresh and the pace quick, because this catches a terrible case of the drags at the midway point that it never manages to shake. It's a major disappointment that the producers couldn't secure the rights to Kaufman and Lawler's infamous fight on Letterman, too, which was the real hook of the entire storyline. A true let-down.