SummaryThis documentary examines how Los Angeles has been portrayed by Hollywood and the impact of the movie industry on the city.
Directed By:Thom Andersen
Written By:Thom Andersen
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
86
User score
Generally Favorable
8.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
89% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Andersen makes humorous hay out of the stark home designs of Richard Neutra — only suitable, it seems, for drug dealers.
100
Mesmerizing.
User score
Generally Favorable
80% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
10% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
10% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Jul 15, 2020
10
This is one of the great cinematic essays. Filmmaker Thom Andersen takes a big stack of clips from a wide range of films set in LA and uses them to illuminate the city's architecture, neighborhoods, and history. Some of the scenes are key moments, and others appear to be chosen randomly, but all of them reveal something interesting about Los Angeles. You may disagree with some of it--I did--but any serious fan of cinema or this city will appreciate what Andersen has put together here. I would like to see more cinematic explorations like this: how about New York? Paris? London? Tokyo?
Mar 22, 2025
9
A very interesting documentary about Los Angeles in film. In his stream-of-consciousness work, Andersen draws on images from films that portray, criticize, or were simply filmed in his hometown. He connects film history, class and race differences, the history of water and cars in the city, familiar versus obscure neighborhoods, the dilemma of filmmakers, a city that everyone seems to hate, but which simultaneously exerts an incredible fascination for artistic representation, and so much more. A monumental work with a wealth of impressions!
90
Three words of advice to those who haven't yet seen it: Run, don't walk. Composed of excerpts from hundreds of locally shot movies past and present -- from grade-A prestige pictures to unrepentant grade-Z schlock -- Los Angeles Plays Itself serves as Andersen's exhaustive but never exhausting attempt to reconcile the myriad identities of the world's moviemaking capital.
90
Los Angeles may be the most photographed city in the world, but it has never have been captured with such complex layers of meaning and fascination as in Thom Andersen's remarkable Los Angeles Plays Itself.
80
It is an essay in film form with near-universal interest and a remarkable degree of synthesis.
75
The commentary alternates between witty insight and opinionated bunk, but it's always fun -- and a must-see for movie buffs.
40
Andersen makes a far from inspiring guide, intoning his humourless points in a dry-as-powder monotone.
Aug 25, 2014
4
Los Angeles Plays Itself is one of those films that made me ask, "I don't get it." A barrage of fun clips with uninteresting and quite vapid commentary. A blank.
Nov 3, 2014
3
The whole idea of this 2.5 hr documentary-like film is to explore how Los Angeles is portrayed in movies. There was obviously some work put into collecting and categorizing the countless clips from films, as well as matching the names, dates, and locations portrayed in them. That being said, there really isn't too much else here aside from a random run through historical film locations. I really wanted to like this film, but I got about an hour in before it just became frustrating. The whole time, the narrator seems like he is trying to set up some kind of profound message or theme about how Los Angeles is portrayed, but the narrator simply seems to loathe *everything* about movies, which is an odd characteristic for someone who has apparently made an entire 2.5 hour film about movies. The narration is extremely dry in a way that is an obvious attempt to sound intelligent, but comes across as depressed and bored. There is absolutely no joy or excitement in talking at you. Instead, it is an absolute chore to try and bring you up to speed about the obvious inadequacies of every movie everywhere. But, if you actually listen to what he has to say, there is so much contraction in the messages that one cannot help but become frustrated at it. At various times, the narrator complains about movies in the following ways: how they are too unrealistic, how they are too realistic, how they recycle the same locations, how they take creative liberties with their locations, how they don't portray ordinary everyday life but rather focus on exciting sequences and stories, how there is too much violence, and how they are sometimes exciting. Yes, there is a lot of complaining about how violence and sex and destruction are common topics of movies set in Los Angeles (as if these were not common topics in movies set anywhere in the world as well). The opinions just become obtuse and ridiculous. At one point, the narrator tried to convince me that Paris, unlike Los Angeles, has escaped the scourge of cinema portrayal (I mean, really?). The whole things feels like it is trying to have some kind of profound message from this collection of names, dates, and locations, but it all boils down to this: Movies **** because they don't accurately portray ordinary life and there is too much unrealistic violence, sex, and destruction in Movies filmed in Los Angeles. There is one interesting segment showing how various films used the same locations to portray different environments, but otherwise there is a lot of opinions being thrown around which are mostly absurd. .
