Hollywood Ending
Val Waxman (Allen) is a once prestigious film director lately reduced to overseeing cheesy television commercials in order to pay his bills and support his current live-in girlfriend, Lori (Debra Messing). When he is thrown off his latest effort (a deodorant commercial being filmed in the frozen north), he desperately seeks a real movie project.
Out of the blue, Val receives an offer to direct a big-budget blockbuster movie to be set in New York City. However, the offer comes from his former wife, Ellie (Téa Leoni), and her current boyfriend, Hal (Treat Williams), the studio head who stole Val's wife from him.
Pushed by his agent Al Hack (Mark Rydell), Val agrees to the project, but a psychosomatic ailment strikes him blind just before production is to begin. With Al's encouragement and aid, Val keeps his blindness a secret from the cast and studio head. The movie plays out with an aging director struggling to regain his vision, both literally and metaphorically.
In the end, Val's project costs $60 million—and flops. Nevertheless, Val enjoys a "Hollywood ending" of his own—his movie is a hit in France. After winning Ellie back, he happily proclaims, "Thank God the French exist."
comedy