Empire's Hollywoodland Movie Review

Hollywoodland
Formerly titled Truth, Justice And The American Way

Plot
On the night of June 16, 1959, George Reeves (Affleck), TV’s Superman, died of a gunshot to head. It was classified as suicide, but private detective Louis Simo (Brody) is not so sure…

Review

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According to Hollywood, Hollywood sucks. The movie business is fatal; it’ll get you in the end. From All About Eve to The Aviator, from Sunset Boulevard to Brian De Palma’s crazy noir noodling on genuine unsolved murder The Black Dahlia, the evidence is that you’re going to end up mad, drunk, ruined, or in the local morgue in two clean halves with your internal organs missing. It is a tough business. According to the movies, Tinsletown is a wasteland of shattered dreams, where the limelight is but a flash in the pan and age will creep up and smother you. Fame is only for the famous.

Directors love to slither through the cruelty of their own game, imbuing their findings with a not-on-my-watch sense of moral superiority, gloomy warnings from Hellywood’s sleazy past. The glimmer of the dream factory was just a cover, they clamour; beneath was (and is) a web of greed, exploitation, and death glimpsed through a smear of fading glamour and cigarette smoke.

Sporanos veteran Allen Coulter’s noir-hued morality tale / whodunit / Ben Affleck revival vehicle is all about the psychological rot beneath the moneyed veneer of the late ’50s. It’s the story of George Reeves, a well-girthed guy low on talent but cute enough to get halfway up the ladder as TV’s Superman who found, back in the real world, that he couldn’t dodge bullets, and left his brains smeared across his bedroom wall. Burn out or foul play? That is the question which to this day remains unanswered. And Coulter and writer Paul Bernbaum are intent on taking the scenic route through the facts of the case. They revel in recreating a sun-baked period LA tinkling with celebrity cocktail parties, like the one where Reeves’ first hits it off with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), an older, savvier studio wife looking for a pretty lug to stave off time’s wear and tear.

Affleck, who can clearly feel the resonances with his own topsy-turvy career, adds 20lbs to his lanky frame and creates a soul bound for the lower reaches. Reeves has all he could want, but not what he wanted. His peers derided him, his career stalled in the cape, but he had the adoration of every American moppet. In one chilling depiction of fame’s delusional cloak, a public appearance in his padded suit is almost derailed as a small child, intent on testing Superman’s famed invulnerability, pulls out a real pistol. The reality is that he is all too vulnerable, the poison of public indifference gnawing at him like kryptonite.

Lane too is excellent, giving a brave portrayal of fading beauty. Mannix is a tragic figure, smart enough to understand if not deal with the inevitable. “I have seven good years before my ass drops like a duffelbag,” she growls, facing the truth like an oncoming train. There is real sensitivity in the depiction of their entwined fates, the certainty that the world they depend on will inevitably toss them aside.

The script’s game, though, is twofold: to study this turbulent ebb and flow of success, and to try its hand at a crime flick in which Adrien Brody’s dogged gumshoe edges his way towards truth, justice and the Hollywood way — that is superficiality with razor edges. It is from the perch of his pulpy investigations that we gaze back into Reeves’ doomed finale.

When it comes to sleuthing out a credible solution to Reeves’ untimely demise the movie gets all Rashomon with the facts — different interpretations from different perspectives. Was it the suicide of a depressed man who knows he’s has his day? Was it the work of his new fling? Prissy little grabber Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) shows about as much remorse over the death of her fiancé as she would a terminal goldfish. Or was it a <i>crime passionel</i> by Toni Mannix, spurned for a younger, dumber model, her final nudge into the yawning chasm of age? Or, indeed, was it down to the manipulations of her husband, MGM bigwig Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), another ‘fix-it’ job in a town ruled by the studios and their oily publicity men? There’s a sprawl of possibility, but the film isn’t so much a whodunit as a whywasitdun.

While fully evoking an LA bleached out in a permanent heat haze with its sulky mix of shadowy mansions and seedy motels, Coulter never quite snares the potential darkness in Reeves bitter end. Even though things kick-off as gunshots echo across a midnight street, it doesn’t energise as the film noir it’s aiming for. Instead, it thrives as a horror story, albeit where the bogeyman on the steps is simply irrelevance.

Verdict

Reviewed by Ian Nathan

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Average user rating for Hollywoodland

Classy yet pointless?
Hollywoodland cannot be faulted for its faithful depiction of glitzy late 50's tinseltown, but the script is clunky in places and the movie ends up feeling overlong, overbearing and pointless. That said, messrs Affleck and Brody as well as Diane Lane all pull in strong performances with the material given. ... More


Posted by apprehendthesuspect at 23:08, 31 October 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Good film, a little slow in places but really was a comeback film for Affleck. He made a good choice getting the role - it wasnt a showy role but it was weighty enough for regular movie goers to sit up and notice him again. Im not much of a fan of his probably due to the more recent bad choices hes made and the whole 'Benniffer' thing but hes good in this. Also the films a good comment on the whole Hollywood machine of the time, a peek behind the 'glitz and glamour'. ... More

Posted by The Peanut at 18:59, 05 May 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Hollywoodland. Inspired by the title and the creation of 50s Hollywood, the press, the nightclubs,the beaches,the pads. Equally impressed by Affleck's(Reeves) and Lane's(Toni Mannix) takes on their characters'troubled relationship.The environment was so much more natural than was shown in The Back Dahlia.These two characters were based on real people who existed. However Brody's PI was the fictional hub and the film's achilles heel. I thought Brody was superb and convincing but his own story an... More

Posted by Technoguy at 17:00, 05 May 2007 \| Report This Post




Clunky in places and a little too clever-clever in its structure, but worth seeing for Affleck’s career-redefining turn and the sumptuous retro feel. ... More


Posted by moviemaniac2 at 19:24, 31 January 2007 \| Report This Post



don't dismiss
I really enjoyed this film I think it had a great atmosphere and look. The whole cast were superb. As for comparisons with the Black Dahlia this is far superior. ... More


Posted by maloowese at 14:09, 15 December 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Yeah. Thanks for your review. I think I enjoyed alot more than you did, but I think everyone is in agreement that the acting is superb. Especially Affleck and Diane Lane. ... More

Posted by raiders1 at 12:46, 30 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Thanks Wilbert, I appreciate that. I didn't enter the Thunderdome. It's a neat idea, but I wasn't really comfortable with the competition aspect of it and I decided to give it a miss. Best of luck to those who did enter it though, it'll be interesting to see how it develops. ... More

Posted by Philconcannon at 09:07, 30 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
L: Philconcannon When Matt Damon and Ben Affleck collected Oscars for their ll Huntingplay in 1998, they both seemed to have startlingly bright futures ahead of them, but it didn't really work out that way. Damon has done pretty well for himself; he has slowly matured into one of the best young actors currently working, he has a successful action franchise under his belt, and he has worked with Spielberg, Soderbergh, Scorsese and De Niro. For Affleck, things haven't run quite so s... More

Posted by Wilbert at 01:31, 30 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
When Matt Damon and Ben Affleck collected Oscars for their ll Huntingplay in 1998, they both seemed to have startlingly bright futures ahead of them, but it didn't really work out that way. Damon has done pretty well for himself; he has slowly matured into one of the best young actors currently working, he has a successful action franchise under his belt, and he has worked with Spielberg, Soderbergh, Scorsese and De Niro. For Affleck, things haven't run quite so smoothly. He was doing OK f... More


Posted by Philconcannon at 00:26, 30 November 2006 \| Report This Post




hollywoodland is being sold as ben afflecks comeback role but hes not in it half the time! his is a supporting role at best this is really a vehicle for adrien brody more recent oscar winner afflecks third billing under diane lane. unfortunately brodys part is less interesting even if it takes up more screentime which makes viewing this film a very frustating experience. afflecks sunset boulevard type relationship with diane lanes char... More


Posted by quizkid at 12:10, 29 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Thematically, this film shares a lot with Brian de Palma's ck Dahlia It also has the misfortune of suffering from the same problem that it is unable to keep the narrative and plot running smoothly for its 2 hour running time. Neither the George Reeves in his lifetime nor the Louis Simo investigates plot line is sufficiently interesting to fully engage its audience. That this film is so fundamentally flawed is a shame given that it provides two of the best supporting performances of ... More

Posted by Groovy Mule at 20:10, 27 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
I too thought that Affleck was good. But he is playing a guy who was a "wooden" actor right? Anyway, for me... if Affleck gets nominated so should Diane Lane. ... More

Posted by raiders1 at 17:15, 27 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Great performances from everyone involved, especially Adrien Brody and Diane Lane, but it really just lacked something for me. I hated the way that it somehow managed to be about Luis Cimo and his son rather than George Reeves. I thought Affleck was good but not as fantastic as everyone else seems to think. He'll definately get the Oscar nom but that's probably just because he's playing a dead famous person. That seems to be pretty much all the Oscars care about these days. ... More


Posted by tbird at 17:12, 27 November 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Hollywoodland
Really really enjoyed it. Affleck was good. Diane Lane was superb! I hope the Academy remember Ben and Diane Lane at awards time! ... More

Posted by raiders1 at 17:04, 27 November 2006 \| Report This Post



Affleck is back
Reminds me why I liked him before he became crap, but i think this will bring him back to top form! ... More


Posted by Dannolan1 at 18:03, 26 November 2006 \| Report This Post



Affleck is back
Reminds me why I liked him before he became crap, but i think this will bring him back to top form! ... More


Posted by Dannolan1 at 18:02, 26 November 2006 \| Report This Post



Affleck is back
Reminds me why I liked him before he became crap, but i think this will bring him back to top form! ... More


Posted by Dannolan1 at 18:02, 26 November 2006 \| Report This Post

HollywoodlandFormerly titled Truth, Justice And The American Way

Hollywoodland
Formerly titled Truth, Justice And The American Way