Flicker Fever: A Messy, Old-School Hollywood Scrap

Should you watch this?

Honestly, only if you have a weird itch for 1930s Hollywood desperation or you’re working through a massive backlog of Mack Sennett-adjacent fluff. If you hate watching people make incredibly bad decisions that ruin their own lives, skip it. It’s loud, it’s frantic, and the logic is thinner than the coffee they're probably serving in that apartment complex.

The whole thing starts with that classic vaudeville-is-dead vibe. You know, the kind of scene where people look miserable in a living room and talk about the 'glory days' while staring at a piano that hasn't been tuned since the Great War. They pack their bags and hit the road to Hollywood, which feels like a mistake from the very first frame.

The Apartment Complex Life

Once they hit the coast, the movie turns into a chaotic scramble. Everyone in that apartment building is just exhausting to watch. It’s supposed to be funny, I think? But mostly it just feels like being trapped in a room with five people who all think they’re the next big star. The pacing is a bit like a pinball machine—it hits things at random and just keeps bouncing until the reel runs out.

I found myself staring at the background extras in some scenes. There’s one guy in a hat in the corner of the lobby who just stands there for about three solid minutes doing absolutely nothing. It’s way more interesting than the main plot.

The big moment—the pool party—is where the movie finally decides to just throw everything against the wall. The father shows up looking like he hasn't slept in a week, spots his daughter, and decides that pushing some random guy into the pool is a great way to handle things. It’s the kind of decision that makes you want to reach into the screen and just turn the power off.

• The dialogue is sharp but sometimes feels like it was written by people who had never actually met a human being.
• The pool scene lasts about five minutes longer than it needed to.
• The lighting in the studio offices is surprisingly bright, almost like they were afraid of the shadows.

It’s not quite as charming as When Ladies Meet, which at least had a bit more of a heartbeat. This one feels like a collection of sketches that were taped together with hope and duct tape. Sometimes the slapstick works, and sometimes you just wonder why nobody told the actors to calm down a little.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in The Jazz Fool, but without the music to smooth out the jagged edges. You can see the effort, and you can see the sweat, but you can also see the seams ripping apart.

Still, for a rainy afternoon? Maybe. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. It's just a flicker. 🎥