Hollywood Con Queen review – a truly boring journey through an astonishing scam

08/05/2024 13:22

The story of Hargobind Tahilramani, who is accused of multiple frauds against people in the film industry, would have made for a riveting hour of TV. Instead, it is stretched to 180 backside-numbing minutes

Hollywood finds no subject more fascinating than Hollywood. It has dwelled on itself virtually from the moment the film industry began. The good stuff endures – from Sunset Boulevard and Singin' in the Rain onwards – but there is a lot of bloated dross out there.

To the second pile we must add the three hours of Hollywood Con Queen – a tale of a scam that could be told in 60 minutes, rather than the 180 allocated. A large scam, to be sure, involving the impersonation of a lot of studio heads, but a scam nonetheless, operating along the same principles as any other to which we have borne witness in life or as viewers of true-crime shows.