Hollywoodland

Adrien Brody
Diane Lane
Ben Affleck
Bob Hoskins
Robin Tunney

Directed by: Allan Coulter


Nothing is more frustrating than watching a movie and being completely engrossed in its story, only to walk away feeling completely let down by the end of the film. Hollywoodland is a perfect example of this problem. This is a noir-ish film that takes a look at the last days and death of George Reeves through the eyes of a bottom feeder private eye. Ben Affleck turns over an incredible and what should be an Oscar nominated performance as the actor who played the man of steel, Diane Lane is well… as perfect as she always is, Adrien Brody is wonderful as the conflicted and at times morally ambiguous private eye, and Bob Hoskins is a delightfully sleazy studio head. The story is riveting and it is very easy to fall into the web of lies and deceptions and get lost along with the detective in what is real and what is not real. The film is beautiful and completely engrossing but there is one incredibly glaring problem. The film just ends. After spending two hours watching a film, following its characters and getting wrapped up on all of the intricacies of the plot, is it too much to ask for an ending?

Hollywoodland takes various looks at the last few hours of George Reeve’s life as we follow new twists and turns. By the end of the film, we get to see numerous possible scenarios that may or not be true. In a mystery it is sometimes acceptable to the audience to not necessarily give us an acceptable answer and allow us to draw our own conclusions. This film just ends, without tying anything together. We aren’t given a reasonable conclusion or given clear enough directions to draw our own. The film just ends. Sadly, this is why you should pass on this film or check it out at your leisure on DVD. The end of the film will draw you to one conclusion. No matter how beautiful or engrossing the film actually is, none of it really mattered.


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