Sunset Strip (2000)

I have been watching so many horror movies lately that I felt it was time to move on and start watching some other genres and nothing interests me more than music and the Sunset Strip. It is for that very reason when I saw the title Sunset Strip on HULU, I had to check out this 2000 film that was directed by Adam Collis (Car Dogs) and the film follows a group of people (a song writer, a photographer, musicians, and a stylist) that all live in the Los Angeles area and congregate to the world famous strip as the camera follows them and what happens to them in a 24 hour period of time. The film stars Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) as Glen Walker, Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada) as Michael Scott, Anna Friel (Limitless) as Tammy Franklin, Nick Stahl (Bully) as Zach, Rory Cochrane (Dazed And Confused) as Felix, Adam Goldberg (Dazed And Confused) as Marty Shapiro, Tommy Flanagan (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2) as Duncan, Darren E. Burrows (Causalities Of War) as Bobby, John Randolph (Escape From The Planet Of The Apes) as Mr. Niederhaus, Mary Lynn Rajskub (Little Miss Sunshine) as Eileen, Stephanie Romanov (The Final Cut) as Christine, Judy Greer (Buffaloed) as young waitress, and Mike Rad (It's In The Kitchen) as Badger. 

Adam Collis and the writers of the film obviously went to the school of Richard Linklater and have shown their love of his classic set in the 70's look at teens in Dazed And Confused. Now the overall concept of the film may be different as one looks at teens in Texas over a 24 hour period while this film looks at musicians and various other industry people over a 24 hour period besides the only other similarity being the two actors from Dazed (Cochrane and Goldberg) also being in this one. The story technically evolves more around three characters as Stahl's character feels that it's his destiny to be in LA while Baker's character is trying to balance his photography business while dealing with a depressed friend and the fact that he can't muster up the courage to ask out Tammy who is the last character we follow as she balances her personal life with his business life. I found these personal journeys not as interesting as some of the performances in the film especially coming from Jared Leto who acted the part of a rockstar who is just so full of himself to a T. There were three sides of the spectrum with this film as far as the musicians were concerned and Leto's was the type of musician who made it for the excesses that come with the job rather than Stahl's character who still has love for the craft. Meanwhile, Flanagan's character is the embodiment of what a British rock star is and that is complete coolness like they've been there before and love is what they are missing. If I had to pick an MVP for the film though it would definitely go to Leto and Anna Friel who was just superb. You also have to check out the interactions between Goldberg and Cochrane in this film cause that is Gold. One of the other highlights is the sets that they use like the world famous Whiskey A Go-Go. Check out the film for yourself, but I am giving it an B for a final grade.