Lions Gate has long been the purveyor of horror to video, but they may well have sent me one of the scariest things in a long time to review: Jimmy Hollywood on Blu-ray. Not so much because of the movie–which has its share of laughs and action–but rather because I could’ve gone a lifetime without seeing a bleach-blond Joe Pesci.

Jimmy Hollywood follows Jimmy Alto, a man who desperately wants to break into the business–show business, to be more specific.  But when auditions and putting his face on bus benches doesn’t get the jobs coming in, he notices that the criminals in his run-down neighborhood are doing so well, he decides that he’s going to control what he can. One night he captures a car radio thief and drops said thief off at the police station. But when Jimmy’s capture makes the news, Jimmy decides to take the ball and run with it. Now he’s Jericho, spokesman for the S.O.S., the group he credits with the capture of the car radio thief.  But it doesn’t take long for “Jericho” to be wanted by both the cops and the crooks. Will Jimmy survive his desperate ploy for self-promotion?

Jimmy Hollywood is a bit dated–if this were remade, he’d likely have his own Facebook page and would be working Twitter like a crazy man from his Blackberry, but here, he’s working the fax machines and the camcorder, out to build his rep…rather, Jericho’s.

Sure, it’s unlikely.  I think Jimmy got a little “underpants gnomes” thing going on in that he forgot the step of his little plan that details how he actually uses the Jericho role to further his career.  He certainly can’t announce himself as Jericho–the police would be all over him. Of course, Jericho could endorse Jimmy, but still. At this point, I’m just snowballing, because Jimmy Hollywood is a fun movie. There’s not a lot here in the way of laughs, because the movie is being kind of serious about the whole thing. Call it a very light drama.

Whatever you call it, though, you have to call it effective because this movie is entertaining. There’s a little excitement, a few good laughs, a little bit of awkwardness and more than a few plotholes here, so the overall effect is at least somewhat worthwhile.  Leaving aside the fact that Joe Pesci as a bleach blond is creepy to say the least, he’s putting up the kind of performances we’re used to from him.  He’s good in most anything he’ll be good here.

The Screenhead Ten Scale knows a good movie–not a great movie–when it sees one and thus hands Jimmy Hollywood a slightly better than mediocre six out of ten. It’s a fun little package, but not enough to make it much more than good.