Hollywoodland

"Hollywoodland"

Starring Ben Affleck, Adrien Brody, and Diane Lane

Rated R for language, some violence and sexual content.

Grade: A-
Verdict: Great acting and cheap time travel.

By Greg Sullivan

Ben Affleck. Adrien Brody. Diane Lane. Maybe you’ve heard some of these names before.

Hollywoodland has its share of star power. What separates it from scores of other films? The stars actually perform.

The film is a murder mystery based on real-life events. George Reeves, TV’s Superman in the fifties, was found shot dead in his bedroom after a party one night. Police thought the death was a suicide, but this theory has always been a subject of controversy.

So the task of making this haunting true story come alive is given to a cast stocked with A-list actors. The challenge is to make the audience believe they’re in Hollywood’s past.

Affleck, fresh off appearances in Surviving Christmas and Gigli, was due for a break-out performance, and he delivers here. He portrays George Reeves with all the charm of a classic Hollywood actor. He’s polished, he’s vibrant, and he looks comfortable in a suit.

Adrien Brody delivers a strong performance as loser detective Louis Simo. Simo is hired by Reeves’ mother and becomes wrapped up in the Reeves case while struggling to help raise his own son.

The film alternates back and forth between scenes from Simo’s life and scenes of Reeves’ life in the days leading up to his death.

The film proposes three ways that Reeves may have died, but none of these theories are new; The film is giving the audience a chance to speculate on Reeves’ death along with Simo.

This technique, however, becomes confusing when the film fails to distinguish whether what Reeves is doing is a theory in Simo’s head or an actual flashback for the audience. I was not expecting Reeves to die a second time, but on his third death I understood that the film was using Simo’s mind to propose theories on how Reeves died.

This problem presented a brief distraction, but it didn’t make the film overly frustrating since there was so much good acting from Brody, Affleck and others.

The title refers to the early days of Hollywood when the white letters on the hill used to spell “Hollywoodland.” However, the sign had fallen long before this time period and the title is a little misleading. Nevertheless, a sense of nostalgia comes across effectively in the film.

Diane Lane could not be a more convincing Toni Mannix. Playing the part of studio executive Eddie Mannix’s wife, she looks just how such a wife must have looked in the 40s and 50s, and her chemistry with Affleck was much easier to watch than J-Lo’s.

The film is directed by Allen Coulter. Best known for his work directing TV’s Sex and the City and The Sopranos, here he is making a promising feature film debut to what will hopefully be a long and distinguished career.

Not only does Hollywoodland offer viewers the opportunity to see some of today’s best actors doing strong work on the same screen, but it takes you back in time for under ten dollars.

And for the 80-year-olds in the audience seeking some closure on George Reeves’ death, SORRY. The murder remains a mystery.