It's saddening (to say the least) to see the Woodman's slow descent into relative mediocrity. Hollywood Ending is actually Woody's funniest film in a while, with an ending that justifies all and any means, but you can't stop the gnawing suspicion that if he'd done this film 20 years ago it would have been nothing short of brilliant.

Hollywood Ending is a parody of movie-making, and Woody Allen is capable of writing and directing the best send-ups in the business, but much of this film is a bit amblesome and toothless.

Allen more of less plays himself, really: a neurotic, Oscar-winning filmmaker whom no one takes seriously anymore. His name is Val Waxman, who doesn't enjoy the same veneration as the man who plays him and having fallen on hard times, he is reduced to pursuing projects that are well beneath him. His ex-wife, Ellie (Tea Leoni), now dating a studio head (Treat Williams), talks the studio into hiring Val to direct a new film - making his ex-wife's boyfriend his boss. A situation the ultra-neurotic Allen is none to happy about, but whaddaya gonna do? Work is work.

In a plot device that only Allen would consider attempting, the night before principal shooting is to begin, Val comes down with a case of hysterical blindness. An actual condition that is psychosomatic by nature and brought about by intense stress. As a testament to how far Allen is willing to take a comic premise and also a testament to how desperate Waxman has become, his agent (Mark Rydell) convinces him to direct the film anyway. As implausible as all this may seem, for the most part Allen manages to make this thing semi-believable and pretty damn funny at times. Though his tirades of neurotic self-doubt can wear on one's patience, Tea Leoni does an admirable job of diffusing them and cutting them short. And after finding out about his condition, not only keeps it a secret but also helps conspire to pull-off this seemingly impossible feat. For example she sets him up with the cinematographer's Chinese translator (Barney Cheng) as a guide to prevent people from knowing he can't see. If someone comes up to Val and says, "Should we use this one or the bigger one?" the guide can casually say, "Oh, what nice pocketwatches," cuing Val on what's being held up in front of him so he can opine.

Again it's a stretch, but credit Allen for knowing how to direct a movie in a way that is believable, avoiding most of the pitfalls that would have turned this from farce into the ridiculous. Naturally the film is rife with Hollywood-insider stabs -- like an art director who feels the real Times Square isn't good enough and wants to build a set instead - and there are plenty of jokes at the expense of agents. The jokes are a microcosm for Allen's latter work - some work, some don't.

As I alluded to above, this is sort of a one-joke movie that has one hell of a killer punch-line at the end. And similar to the punch-line at the end of Cabin Fever is funny enough to recommend the entire film.