At the movie's start, Kage is playing a cop in a movie and messing up take after take after take. Tom is his partner, and during a break in filming, his girlfriend Paula says she has written a movie script called 'The Hollywood Sign', though she has been told to revise the ending.
Seven years later, Tom can't get work as an actor and he is having to take a real job. At the hotel he moves into, he meets Kage and discovers Kage is in the same situation and living there too. Later in the movie, we see just why these two actors are washed up--they haven't got it any more (but the results are hilarious!). Tom has revised Paula's script, but the process of making the movie gets put on hold for a while.
At a funeral, the two meet Floyd, another has-been actor who is still able to make a good living installing burglar alarms. If needed, he could also install bugs and other surveillance equipment.
The three actors go to the movie's title landmark and discover a body. What they decide to do about the body, and about finding out how it got there, results in quite a few laughs.
Rod Steiger gave this movie's outstanding performance, especially toward the end, but Tom Berenger and Burt Reynolds both did fine jobs as well. Reynolds leaned more toward comedy and did quite well. I'm not saying it was one of his best performances, but it was enjoyable.
Jacqueline Kim made a confident and intelligent Paula. And she looked good too--especially wearing little or no clothing.
The bumbling gangsters connected in some way with the body were funny and not that threatening. Rodney, one of Floyd's clients, was the head gangster and halfway intelligent, while Muscle seemed to be just that. Steve seemed more street-smart. Charlie, the clumsy sidekick to the veteran actors, also provided comedy relief.
The ending was very strange but entertaining.
I thought this was worth seeing.
