How could MGM have made a film entitled "Abbott and Costello in Hollywood" and done such a lousy job of showing the behind the scenes workings in the movie industry?! At the time, MGM was the biggest and best studio in the world--yet the team get to meet and interact with such "stars" as Rags Ragland, Mike Mazurki, Butch Jenkins and Lucille Ball (who, at this point in her career, was a 2nd-tier actress). There are only these lame cameos and such stars as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Greer Garson, Spencer Tracy and the like are nowhere to be seen. Considering how popular Abbott and Costello were at the time, the film was an obvious sign the studio wanted nothing to do with the team despite their popularity, and not surprisingly, this was the duo's last role for the studio (who had bought the rights from their home studio, Universal, to use Abbott and Costello). In fact, in all three films the studio made with Bud and Lou, they seemed to hold back--giving them relatively limp scripts and nothing that would bring the films up to even the quality of the Universal films (a studio with far less money and clout).
The plot, despite the production values, isn't bad. The film begins with Bud and Lou working as barbers with ambitions of becoming Hollywood agents. This plot concept is a reworking of the team's most successful film to that time, WHO DONE IT?--which had them working as soda jerks who had ambitions of becoming radio mystery writers. In this case, they are helping a young man and woman (a requirement because of the formula to have a supporting couple in all their films). However, when they go to the studio to talk to about their clients, they end up making a major nuisance of themselves and spend much of the film hiding from the studio guards--by hiding in various sound stages and interfering with the productions.
Eventually, though, their big break comes when a fat-head actor refuses a part that turns out to be perfect for Bud and Lou's male client. They sign a contract and begin celebrating--until the fat-head now agrees to the job and their client is dropped from the film. How Bud and Lou deal with this is very sleazy--and quite funny! My wife is an author and I sure wish her agent would be willing to go as far as Bud and Lou for their client!!
Unfortunately, MGM didn't really capitalize well on this dark humor--instead going into a very, very long and distracting song and dance number that just derailed the momentum. Additionally, the roller coaster chase scene was just stupid. Too many obviously rear-projected shots, impossible stunts and it appeared geared just to children--very young and undemanding children. It's reminiscent of a similar scene in the Laurel and Hardy film, DANCING MASTERS...uggh! Up until the end of the film fell apart, I was ready to give the film a 7. However, considering the ending, the lack of real stars and too many production numbers, I am very generously giving it a 5.
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