Sallywood is a weird movie because it’s well, frankly, bad, and the central figure, the usually talented actress Sally Kirkland, is one of its worst parts. It’s a film that tries to have heart and tell a nice story but ends up delivering a garbled tale of lost fame.
This is loosely based on the true story of the friendship between writer and director Xaque “Zack” Gruber and Kirkland. At the start of the movie, Zack (Tyler Steelman), recounts the story of his dad getting a bunch of tapes from the video store, with one being Anna, starring Kirkland. Zack becomes a huge fan – and then the film jumps to his adulthood where he’s ready to trek from Maine to Los Angeles to make it as a writer.
The movie’s pacing is all over the place. The intro makes you think Zack’s chance encounter with Sally is such a big moment that it should be saved for later, once their characters are more established, but it happens early on. From there, the audience gets a dose of Kirkland’s acting chops – which are surprisingly mediocre in this film.
It’s shocking how a movie about Sally Kirkland makes her come off like an amateur. Her delivery is stilted and often rushed, as if she’s trying to power through her lines as fast as possible. It has a very film-student movie feel. There is nothing special going on with the direction, lighting, or editing.
What’s worse is that I can’t even blame the script. It’s far from great, but it’s decent enough. It’s just Kirkland’s performance that saps all the energy and spirit that the script could potentially have. I’m not familiar with Kirkland’s best work, but I have to assume it was leagues above what she delivers here.
The plot doesn’t do much to endear the audience to Sally either. Right after meeting her, Zack becomes her assistant and is tasked with finding work she desperately needs. The movie tries to show the ageism that many women face in Hollywood, but it’s not exactly a new message, and this movie doesn’t do a good job of getting the message across.
Given Kirkland’s performance here, there isn’t a strong case for her deserving a career resurgence. She’s always going on about her past sexual escapades with other celebrities or some pseudo-spiritual stuff, but it’s rarely charming or funny. It’s hard to root for her when there’s no real reason to, besides Zack believing in her.
As a comedy, Sallywood only delivers a couple of chuckles. As a heartwarming story of redemption or faith in talent overcoming Hollywood’s vapid nature, well, that isn’t really the story on offer here. It’s a shallow story with shallow characters, where the only decent performances come from Tyler Steelman as Zack and his roommate, played by Tom Connolly. There was some potential here but the result is just a dud.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Kirkland has unfortunately fallen ill, and her friends have established a GoFundMe page to help her with medical bills. We wish her a speedy recovery and hope that films such as Sallywood are a mere blip on her resume – and Kirkland's days of Hollywood glory will be restored soon.
Author Bio:
Ulises Duenas is a senior writer and film critic at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine