My Amazon DVD Reviews: Hollywoodland

HollyWoodBland,
3 Out Of 5 Stars


Two conflicting movies fight for dominance in the interesting if seriously flawed "Hollywoodland." One of them stars Ben Affleck as Geroge Reeves, a struggling actor who catches his one lucky break by becoming the star of the early TV Series, "Superman." Reeves is charming, funny, clever and witty, but not much of an actor. He has an angel in the form of Toni Mannix (an excellent Diane Lane), who picks Reeves to be her personal boytoy, sets him up with a home, jobs, all that her rich husband, MGM Studio VP Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins, channelling his inner Ed Asner). Eddie has his own toys, but he has a dark lining. Then there's the gold-digging Leona, who Reeves has an affair with, much to the consternation of Toni. But then, maybe Toni talked George out of marrying Leona. Or maybe George was just sick of Leona and called off a wedding to be with Toni. We never know, because a depressed Reeves committed suicide in 1959.

Or did he? This is the issue that "Hollywoodland" grapples with. Any one of these people orbiting Reeves had ample motive to kill him, and his death was clouded in controversy at the time. In this half of the movie, director Allen Coulter (his first movie after critically acclaimed TV episodes of The Sopranos and Rome for HBO) creates an interesting scenario of Old Hollywood, power, and dirty relationships. Not only that, he recreates the 50's in spectacular style, with a particular heads up for all the classic cars you'll see. Affleck is also at his best as the doomed actor, playong all the sides of Reeves in what was an Oscar worthy job.

However, there's a second part to this, and that is the Film Noir attached to it. This part stars Adrian Brody, doing a great job as hack detective Louis Simo. Simo gets hired when Reeves' mother raises suspicions that her son would not have killed himself. So Simo goes digging where others are too scared to, and Simo can't afford not to. Brody is engaging as Simo, although I kept thinking of Micheal Imperioli doing Chrissy on The Sopranos, to the point where I began thinking Brody was forced to watch the series to get the part down. And since Simo's story is trying to uncover the truth behind Reeves', it seems that we are forced to watch as the two stories, told as separate timelines (and in Reeves' case, as flashbacks) play out.

That's where the schism takes place. Simo's life is coming undone, and "Hollywoodland" keeps trying to force-fit Reeves' career slide with Simo's domestic problems. Reeves' life is so interesting that the continual forced jamming of Simo's becomes unsettling; the film works best when Simo is trying to pry up the boards of the all too pristine Hollywood system. There are so many subplots and spinouts from that main course, the movie ultimately falters. It's way better than "The Black Dahlia" or "Zodiac," but it's nowhere near the likes of "LA Confidential." Or even a couple episodes of The Sopranos, for that matter.