April 25, 2023
Review: 'City of Angels' is Devilishly Funny
Steve Weinstein READ TIME: 2 MIN.
What does an actress afraid wallowing in obscurity do when she opens the trunk of her car to find one of the hottest (in both senses) young actor's corpse staring at her? Vincenza, the center of a sprawling universe of only-in-L.A. types, rolls a joint, gets in touch with a creepy contact in her New Age cult, and finally dumps it at the beach house where she found it.
As the title implies, "City of Angles" casts a cynical eye on the people who churn out what we generously call entertainment. The vague, noirish sense of menace that underlies the city's relentlessly sunny sky, epic consumption, and self-absorption has been catnip for authors for decades, from Nathaniel West and Raymond Chandler to Bruce Webber and Bret Easton Ellis. But "City of Angles" most closely resembles the two funniest, and most bitter, Hollywood novels, Joan Didion's "Play It As It Lays" and Evelyn Waugh's "The Loved One." That's high praise.
Leaf even does them one better by giving names and personalities to usually anonymous Average Joes and Janes, like an LAPD detective and a Guatemalan maid and the shady Israeli owners of the pot dispensary where Vincenza works. But it's the studio suits and the myriad assorted creative types, crew, actors, and hangers-on that get the most attention – and the funniest barbs.
Take, for example, Billy, an insecure Ivy League novelist turned screenwriter, who falls in love with an aristocratic beauty who plays him like a fiddle. Then there's the sweet old couple who befriend Vincenza when she's being followed by the cult's enforcers, and are eager for a three-way.
This makes for a wide cast of characters, each introduced by a backstory, in a series of bizarre incidents. But Leaf manages to keep so many balls in the air because they ultimately contribute clues to the central murder mystery – things like the no-budget indie movie Vincenza writes and produces, or the cult leader's way of cultivating ties among top industry executives.
It's a wild ride that ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion. If good doesn't triumph over evil, it's probably because in Hollywood, only the good die young.
"City of Angels," by Jonathan Leaf, is available now for $30 from Bombardier Books.
Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early '80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).
