Hollywoodland

Rating

Director

Allen Coulter

Screenplay

Paul Bernbaum

Length

126 min.

Starring

Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Robin Tunney, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith, Molly Parker, Ted Atherton, David J. MacNeil, Dash Mihok, Kevin Hare, Kathleen Robertson, Jeffrey DeMunn, Joe Spano

MPAA Rating

R (For language, some violence and sexual content)

Review

A fictionalized investigation into the real-life mystery of the death of TV’s first Superman George Reeves (Ben Affleck) shifts back and forth incessantly between celebrity biopic and noir thriller.

Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) is a down-on-his-luck private dick whose cases teeter on the obscure and pathetic. While working for an obsessed husband who believes his wife’s cheating on him, he gets a potential break on a cast involving the police-classified suicide death of George Reeves. The case hits close to home when the son he has with his estranged wife becomes despondent and reckless after the death of one of his favorite television characters.

Most of the film revolves around Simo’s investigation of the crime. His personal life takes a significant beating as he zealously pursues truth in a case that was, historically, never solved. Evidence mounts up against various people in Reeves’ life but none of it seems to stick and after Simo takes every tack he can and comes out with nothing, he must wonder just why he’s pursuing his case.

Hollywoodland was to be the original name of the housing development that ultimately failed to finish its hillside name (thus earning Tinseltown’s moniker Hollywood) but here it represents a place of superficiality, fear and repressive personalities. From its main characters down through its supporting cast, screenwriter Paul Bernbaum can’t help but create a less glossy version of reality despite director Allen Coulter’s attempt to make this a first-rate noir thriller.

Filmed in a style similar to the less impressive films of the era in which it’s set, Hollywoodland plays like a bad detective thriller, never finding its way out of the schtick. It’s not a bad feature but one of many fatal flaws. The art direction and costumes are fitting and even the photography and music give the film an added push that the narrative can’t supply. However, the only real magnificence to the project is that of its stellar supporting cast.

Brody is the lead and while his performance bears little similarity to his Oscar-winning role in The Pianist, it’s hard to like a guy who doesn’t seem to like himself. The same cannot be said for Affleck as Reeves. Affleck presents a charming yet conflicted man whose lifelong goal is to become a serious actor. Fate never deals him an even hand despite a wildly popular turn on serial television. Instead, he’s left unfulfilled and upset after a series of mishaps as exemplified by a screening of From Hereto Eternity where audience reaction dooms his minor role in the film.

It’s through his disappointing ride to ruin that we see the true heart and soul of this film. Affleck does his best work in years as the aging actor. After years of dreck like Armageddon and Daredevil, Affleck finally finds a role deserving of him and one in which he goes to great lengths to impress the audience and earn a potential slot in this year’s Oscar nominations.

Diane Lane is equally up to the task as Reeves’ muse and studio chief wife Toni Mannox. Her demeanor towards Reeves shifts dramatically through the film, beginning as enamored paramour and progressing through seething hatred to inconsolable faux-widow. Despite the potentially dreadful compunctions of other actresses to overplay this role, Lane plays it with a balance of emotion that creates an indelible impression of the audience.

Jeffrey DeMunn as Reeves’ agent Art Weissman and Bob Hoskins’ MGM VP Eddie Mannix are also superb in limited roles. These characters are incredibly important to Hollywoodland‘s simplified theme. As Simo works to prevent his life from following the same path as his supposedly-murdered target, we watch as the story that should have been developed in more detail unfolds.

Each character obsesses over something of which he has limitedly little control. Reeves and his career, Toni over George, and Eddie for Toni. All are blind to their own faults and though we see a harrowed George Reeves in several scenes prior to his death, we cannot help but feel that the person who’s truly lost out is he. He’s left with shattered dreams and a career incapable of resuscitation.

Hollywoodland,approached from a different angle, could have been the year’s best film. Removing the weaker Simo character from the equation would have created a more powerful story. Reeves should have been the subject of the screenplay, not the subject of an investigation within the screenplay. Instead, the entire story of Reeves’ life that we see on screen should have been embellished and delivered with more flair and intensity. Everything Simo uncovers (such as Reeves’ brake line woes) could have been shown as it happened.

However, we’re left with a second-rate story propping up a rather interesting character study of a man who never lived up to his own expectations.

Review Written

September 21, 2006