Director: Julia Hart
Writer: Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz
Stars: Grace VanderWaal, Elijah Richardson, Judy Greer, Al Madrigal, Uma Thurman, and Judd Hirsch
Synopsis: Join Stargirl Caraway as she journeys out of Mica into a bigger world of music, dreams, and possibility.
Stargirl was a surprise hit for Disney+ since it was released during the first few days when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders took over the world. With everyone cooped up in their homes and trying to distract themselves from the gloom and doom that the pandemic brought to us, everyone watched Stargirl. But its critical reception was mixed, with some finding it awe-inspiring, and others (like me) who thought it was a slog to get through, barely touching upon the themes it would present. Disney still greenlit a sequel, and here we are with Hollywood Stargirl, two years into the COVID pandemic. Director Julia Hart’s films, Fast Color and I’m Your Woman, were both terrific, but the Stargirl pictures have been consistently dull. Sure, the second one is marginally better, but that doesn’t make it a worthwhile watch.
The marginal difference is due to the talent the film brings to the screen is incredible. For instance, Judy Greer replaces Sara Arrington as Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal)’s mother from the first film. To be perfectly honest, the first movie was so forgettable that I legitimately thought Greer played her mother in that movie, and the film followed that up with them going to Los Angeles, as Ana (Greer) gets a new job as a costume designer for a big movie. But no, it’s a completely different cast for the sequel, with only VanderWaal returning as the film’s titular character, off on another adventure to L.A. in the hopes of meeting new, real friends in the process. She quickly does and is thwarted in the production of a sizzle reel with her new friend Evan (Elijah Richardson) and his brother Terrell (Tyrel Jackson Williams).
Greer is terrific as Stargirl’s mother, bringing an important layer of emotional levity to the movie that we didn’t see in the first installment. One particularly heartbreaking scene near the end of the movie is a highlight for me and showcases why she took over the role since she is able to deftly balance many emotional spectrums inside that sequence.
The film also adds Uma Thurman and Judd Hirsch to the mix, whose characters are more compelling than the main protagonist, even if their screen time is vastly limited. Thurman plays Roxanne Martel, a one-hit singer whose tape, Miracle Mile, changed Stargirl’s life. Of course, she beat-for-beat plays Bono’s character in Sing 2, one who’s reluctant to appear in public again, and spends her life in Iggy (Al Madrigal)’s bar, hoping she’ll hear the next great singer. And, well, the next great singer is Stargirl, Roxanne will become her mentor and you know the drill by now. Hirsch plays Mr. Mitchell, Stargirl’s cranky neighbor, who was once a film producer. It’s the closest the movie will get to a commentary on filmmaking, even if it keeps talking about films ad nauseam because Hirsch’s character is a relic of a bygone era where “pictures” were made on film.
The movie likes to show lots of flashy elements of moviemaking (going so far as to shoot a La La Land-esque scene on an iPhone with a DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Steadicam), but says nothing of note on them, aside from the clichéd “movies are like dreams” or “whenever we watched movies we felt like we could plow through anything” lines. As much as Hollywood Stargirl wants to show the magic of filmmaking, how shooting on your phone can lead to breaking out in Hollywood and becoming the director of a million-dollar project, it barely scratches the surface of why the characters want to make a movie so bad. “We’ve always wanted to make movies” is the most surface-level, and boring, character motivation to bring to the table.
And then it shoehorns in a commentary on toxic filmmakers and set conditions, but it gets dropped halfway through the movie as if that entire arc didn’t happen, even though Ana keeps complaining about her director being a manipulative tool, and the works. It’s only when Hirsch reminds Stargirl how motion pictures were once made, with a Bolex 16mm camera, that the movie says something meaningful about the art of moviemaking, and the endless creativity making a movie can bring to someone longing for meaning in their life. But the rest of the movie is as dull as the first one, with half-baked commentaries plaguing most of the story. Uma Thurman’s character is a cliché, but she’s performed so well that you’d love to see more of her arc, instead of the movie trying to figure out which platitude to talk about and drop two scenes later, never hearing about it again.
Let’s be honest: no one asked for Hollywood Stargirl. The first film had very little emotional attachment and depth to hold the audience’s interest, and the same can be said for the sequel, even if the acting talents are much better this time around than in the first movie. Every time it has the opportunity to say something meaningful about the themes it presents, it never does and almost forgets about them as the next scene rolls along. Even if Uma Thurman and Judd Hirsch are great additions to the cast and make the most of their limited screen time, I feel that the film has wasted their talents when they could’ve been integral parts of Stargirl’s new adventure. It’s criminal to have two incredible actors giving their all, but underusing them this much. It’s a good thing I’ll likely forget about it after writing this, hoping that there won’t be a third one and that Stargirl’s cinematic journey ends in Hollywood…
Grade: D
