Neurotic heroes, all of them

Embattled, ignored, put-upon and victimized (quite literally in “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Player”), screenwriters have it rough as movie characters. The interesting thing is, someone wrote it that way.

Though plenty of films use Hollywood as a subject (“Sullivan’s Travels,” “The Party,” “Play It As It Lays” and “Mulholland Dr.”), screenwriters -- typically -- get little attention compared with stars and directors. And when they get some screen time, they suffer.

From the noir-ish “In a Lonely Place” to the blacklist comedy “The Front” to the easygoing Burt Reynolds-Goldie Hawn comedy “Best Friends,” movie writers are full of anxiety, loneliness and self-loathing.

“Boy Meets Girl” (1938) -- The writers in this Hollywood comedy are too smart for everyone else, enduring coddled, blowhard producers and stars with a serious reality disconnect. This film, written by the husband and wife team of Sam and Bella Spewack, could easily have been made yesterday.

“In a Lonely Place” (1950) -- The frustrations of a down-on-his-luck writer boil over into violence as he struggles to keep his life and career on track. With a screenplay by Andrew Solt (based on a story by Dorothy B. Hughes), the film is a gripping portrait of desperation anchored by a tremendous performance by Humphrey Bogart.

“The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) -- Dick Powell plays a small-town novelist who finds success in Hollywood -- and he’s still miserable. Charles Schnee won an Oscar for his script, which contains this great bit of dialogue from Powell’s character: “I’m flattered you want me and bitter you got me.”

“Contempt” (1963) -- A struggling writer takes a job as a rewrite man for a production of “The Odyssey” in a misguided attempt to win back the affections of his wife. His marital troubles are compounded by the advances of a sleazy producer. Jean-Luc Godard adapted “Contempt” from Alberto Moravia’s novel.

“Best Friends” (1982) -- Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, each at their most easygoing and self-assured, were an odd choice to play a couple who are partners in screenwriting and in life. Working from a script by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin, the scenes of the two of them writing together are strange marvels of cross-purposes. It is hard to imagine two people less equipped to convey the anguish of the creative life, in that they actually make it look like fun.

“Barton Fink” (1991) -- The title character, an intensely cerebral New York playwright, is brought to Hollywood in the ‘40s to make over a wrestling picture. His neurotic self-doubt quickly rises to the level of existential farce. Joel and Ethan Coen reportedly started this script during a serious case of writer’s block while working on “Miller’s Crossing.”

“Adaptation” (2002) -- The ultimate look at contemporary screenwriting culture, as serious, tortured-artist types rub shoulders with dim-bulb careerists. “Adaptation” is at once the story that is being written and the story of its writing, as real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, struggling with a for-hire job, somehow writes himself into his own script. And he faces real problems in the third act.