"American Werewolves in Hollywood" doesn't quite stick the landing. A young publicist and her teenage brother—played by Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg—find themselves dealing with some kind of creature in the Hollywood Hills, leading them to suspect something unusual about their own bodies. Directed by Wes Craven, this film carries on the spirit of the “An American Werewolf…” movies and "The Howling" series, but it had a considerably larger budget than the sequels to the latter. Filming took place from March through June in 2003; however, only six days were left for shooting the climax. Executives at Dimension Films weren't satisfied with the final confrontation as originally planned or with how the special effects were developing. Consequently, production was halted and resumed the following November-February, with just about 12% of the initial footage remaining. Numerous actors and their scenes were cut entirely, including Heather Langenkamp, Illeana Douglas, Corey Feldman, Robert Forster, James Brolin, Scott Foley, and Omar Epps. The result is a lively film that functions quite well for the majority of its first two parts before devolving into something chaotic in the third. The glimpses of werewolves are effective until one is shown up close at the 73-minute mark, where it looks like dated CGI from the nineties. There’s also an unexpected ‘gay’ character introduced—a sequence that seems lifted directly from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"—which might have been considered innovative back then. Eisenberg does a good job as the nerdy brother and his transformation brings to mind the lead in “Christine” from two decades ago. Ricci is looking her best, appearing cute and small. Mya deserves recognition too, along with blonde Portia de Rossi in a brief role. Ultimately, this feels like a situation where studio interference ruined what could have been a solid werewolf film. It’s still engaging and entertaining for much of the time and might be worth seeing if you're a fan of some of the actors involved. Sadly, the final act is excessively elaborate and just doesn't quite fit with the rest of the movie. The runtime is 1 hour, 37 minutes, and it was filmed in Los Angeles, as well as nearby locations such as Torrance High School and Verdugo Hills High School. GRADE: C-

Source on TMDB