Set for limited theatrical release on July 30th and Digital HD on August 3rd, Mondo Hollywoodland is an ode to LA that is directed and co-written by Janek Ambros. Inspired by the 1967 documentary Mondo Hollywood, Mondo Hollywoodland shows that not much has changed in LA from the 1960s to the present day, depicting a similar exposé on the drugs that drive the world of Hollywood and the over-the-top players that make up its moving parts. Additionally acting as a snapshot of the political climate and protesting of the early 2020s, Mondo Hollywoodland is like a kaleidoscope of many colors, giving audiences a bit of political satire, criminal activity, and psychedelic mischief.

The film begins with a faceless narrator who identifies himself as someone who’s come from the 5th dimension in search of “the real” Hollywood. As images of Los Angeles flicker by, the narrator stops on an inebriated citizen who claims that Hollywood is “mondo”, which only “the man who knows” can further explain. After going to the address of the man who knows, the narrator subsequently begins to follow this man, tagging along as he meets with clients to whom he deals magic mushrooms. With each client quirkier than the last, what ensues is a counterculture adventure for the modern age to enjoy.

I was primarily excited for about the first fifteen minutes of the movie when I was under the impression that Mondo Hollywoodland would be some sort of offbeat documentary or mockumentary, but it slowly morphed into another animal, one that was more of a narrative style movie following vapid valley hipsters and executives hopped up on drugs in pursuit of continuing their respective LA lifestyles. Mondo Hollywood is probably best summarized as an iPhone version of Inherent Vice (2014), with the main character surfing through a series of vignettes as he interacts with his unusual ensemble members.

Once Mondo Hollywoodland leaves the documentary style for the narrative story, the film seems rather aimless, following a random man around the Southland doing random drug-related things — why? If one wants to make a funny drug-dealing movie, fine, but this movie has little to do with Hollywood or finding the essence of the city. What’s worse, the sci-fi element of the narrator being from “the 5th dimension” is highly under-utilized or ever explained, this element is all but forgotten after the first 15 minutes since we stop hearing from him for the most part. But the movie certainly is funny. Mondo Hollywoodland has bright spots of comedy, pumped full of the eccentric character types that are prone to inhabit the different LA burrows.

Quite a bit of screaming, cursing, and non-politically correct dialogue is used for shock value humor – but at least sometimes Mondo Hollywoodland manages to be clever with political and social commentary. I question the purpose of his film though — in the time period that Mondo Hollywoodland was released drug use on film was still taboo and people were unaware of the sordid underbelly of Hollywood, but at this point, everyone is well aware of the scene and it is trendy to be weird. Though I didn’t really “get” the film, I did enjoy the editing and camera styles used, which seemed as lively as the film’s quirky characters, and better still, the soundtrack of old-school grooves and indie-rock tunes gave the modern setting of the film a charmingly hippie feel.

6 out of 10