Hollywoodland Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)September 7th, 2006
HOLLYWOODLAND
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
HOLLYWOODLAND, a film noir run at half speed, features an awkward and jarringly bad performance by Ben Affleck -- Remember DAREDEVIL? -- as George Reeves, the actor whose sole claim to fame was as the man who played Superman on television.
The movie's two parallel stories, which unfold at a tepid pace, concern the events leading up to the death of Reeves, as well as the investigation -- or lack thereof -- into the circumstances of his demise. While kryptonite could easily be ruled out as a cause, since Reeves had a bullet through his brain, everything else, except suicide, was quickly ruled out as well.
Adrien Brody (THE PIANIST) gives a moody reading of Louis Simo, the private detective who investigates the case under contract to Reeves's mom. The two of them appear to be the only ones on the planet who see the obvious clues that it wasn't suicide. Brody overplays his hand as a broody and melancholy PI who keeps getting beaten up for asking the wrong questions.
UNFAITHFUL's Diane Lane gives another spotless performance. Playing Toni Mannix, a.k.a. Mrs. Mannix, Lane gives middle age women everywhere, even those cheating on their husbands, a role model for grace and beauty. As Eddie Mannix, the tough guy villain of the piece, Bob Hoskins rehashes a role he has played so often before. Eddie doesn't mind his wife running around, since he does it too. A studio exec with a fistful of money and plenty of goons working for him, Eddie has no problem with Toni using Reeves as her boy toy. Toni lavishes gifts on the struggling actor, including a new house, where they play house regularly.
Never claiming to be even inspired by a true story, the movie liberally mixes conjecture with fact in such large doses that it is never clear what happened.
What the movie gets right, perhaps to its own detriment, is the 1950s period setting. Every stick of furniture and every article of clothing appears to have undergone meticulous research into its authenticity. But in a film that is about a half hour too long, this in-our-face history lesson of that decade's appearance leaves us spending more time contemplating the movie's surface gloss than the story itself.
And, speaking of gloss. Do you remember the 50s? I sure do. As I recall, the streets were not filled with convoys of cars all fresh from the showroom floor, shining so bright with polish that they could cause instant blindness. I believe dust and dirt -- and even cars from the 40s -- were allowed.
HOLLYWOODLAND runs too long at 2:06. It is rated R for "language, some violence and sexual content" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 8, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
