Everybody in Hollywood loves a comeback story, but nobody said the road back would be this ridiculous, or at least “Hollywood” ridiculous. Writer/director William McNamara turns his own outlandish show business experiences into the ten-episode comedy series The Trouble With Billy, fictionalizing his second act in a cutthroat industry.
Billy Mack (William McNamara) was a ’90s star. Now he’s broke, his career is gone, and his only friend is a pit bull named Boo (Twinkie McNamara). At one point, Billy disappeared completely, and he swears aliens abducted him. Down on his luck, Billy and Boo end up in the backyard shed of his niece Trina (Lindsey Pelas), a social media influencer. That lasts until his Alien Abduction Anonymous support group meeting goes off the rails and Trina kicks them out. That’s bad timing, because Billy has a big meeting with famous movie producer Victor De La Warre (Angus MacFadyen) coming up. On top of that, Boo is sick and has to stay overnight at the vet. Not a great start to the day.
The meeting turns out to be just that…a meeting. There’s no movie, but Victor pitches Billy on going into business together. On his way out, Billy runs into his old manager, Artie Shaw (Randall Batinkoff), who offers him a role in a movie. Then the bad news hits. Boo needs a new heart, and the surgery costs $15,000. Billy’s old flame from the ’90s, Lisa Damage (Ele Keats), tries to help him only because of Boo but still harbors some resentment toward him. Just as his career seems to turn around, Billy’s conspiracy-driven mind gets the best of him, and he tells a dirt-sheet outlet that he’s friends with serial killers. The outlet eggs him on for easy, exploitative views, and the clip goes viral. Artie’s movie drops him on the spot, so Billy turns to his sponsor, Bob (Tom Sizemore), while a buddy hooks him up with supplements for Boo.
Billy Mack (William McNamara) in a beanie and Artie Shaw (Randall Batinkoff) in a suit meet among the redwoods in The Trouble With Billy.
“Billy Mack was a ’90s star. Now he’s broke, his career is gone, and his only friend is a pit bull named Boo.”
Billy will try almost anything to raise the money. He hits the streets collecting signatures for a cause that ends up killing whales. He tries out a new-age religion. Through Victor’s new business, he starts dating the wealthy and much older Miss Sally Grayson (Sally Kirkland). Hoping for good publicity, he even joins a college Quidditch league and gets his eye poked out by a broomstick in his first game. While Trina comes back into the picture and Boo’s heart doctor, Doctor Amstel (Robert Wagner), gets ready to operate, Billy’s biggest mess is still ahead. He’ll fight Storie Hellman (Jake Busey) in a celebrity MMA charity match, and a mob boss named Terrible Tony Fendericco (Joe Cortese) has a stake in the outcome.
The Trouble With Billy feels like a modern-day Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with the vibe of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Billy keeps falling into one Hollywood trap after another, and every incident produces cringeworthy moments. To the credit of writer/director/star William McNamara, he finds unpredictable ways in and out of these situations. The best example is the celebrity MMA fight, whose setup, execution, and conclusion I didn’t see coming.
I also like that the ten episodes aren’t necessarily part of a single narrative arc. It’s simply about a washed-up actor trying to find relevance again in what he loves most…acting. My favorite episode has Billy competing for a role against a Meisner-trained actress, who plays Helen Keller forced to live in an attic during WWII. The cameos are also amazing, including Billy Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Randall Batinkoff, Sally Kirkland, Marilu Henner, Angus MacFadyen, Costas Mandylor, Corey Parker, Robert “RJ” Wagner, and Alison Eastwood. As outlandish as Billy’s situations are, they feel completely authentic because they take place in Hollywood; if they took place in Middle America, it would feel like a lame sitcom.
Billy is a likable character worth rooting for, and William McNamara brings a charm to the role that carried me through all ten episodes. Not an easy feat these days. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm, the humor comes from uncomfortable situations and the out-of-the-box ways Billy escapes them. As with any good comedy, each episode opens with Billy in a relatable situation, like looking for a job or raising money for Boo, before slowly spiraling out of control.
For screening information, visit the The Trouble With Billy official website.
"…he swears aliens abducted him."
