Home > Movies > H > Hollywoodland > Reviews


Rating:
Hollywoodland is a better film than the misbegotten mess known as The Black Dahlia, which was linked to Hollywoodland by similar themes (a mysterious death/murder in period Tinseltown) and release dates (a week apart in September 2006). The margin of its superiority, however, is not what one would hope. While The Black Dahlia goes off the rails, as Brian de Palma is plenty capable of doing, in its examination of the Elizabeth Short case, Hollywoodland is just plain boring while determining why, or whether, TV Superman George Reeves killed himself. Ben Affleck brings enough to the role to have earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor. But even his performance is uneven bordering on stiff, and the movie becomes a lot less interesting when it shifts focus to the shady private eye played by Adrien Brody. Brody does his usual thing capably enough, but Paul Bernbaum's script doesn't give him ample reason for becoming obsessed with Reeves' death, nor does it flesh out the relationships that are suffering at the hands of his obsession. This gives the movie the sense of lurching forward in abrupt leaps of logic. The intrigue surrounding Reeves' death does not play particularly well either, possibly because the facts of the case still remain open to interpretation, and nothing here is ventured very confidently. Hollywoodland is most interesting when concentrating on Reeves' career, which he perceived as an emotional roller coaster. Berbaum's script is smart to keep the dead man front and center in the ongoing narrative, which at least saves it from what sunk The Black Dahlia: tunnel vision on the insipid investigators. Unfortunately, Hollywoodland can't avoid being hamstrung by this same structure, which gives the historical footnote (Brody's private dick) the same dramatic weight as the mercurial and potentially suicidal TV star. Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Browse More Movies:
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z