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HOLLYWOODLAND
Directed by: Allen Coulter.
Produced by Glenn Williamson.
Written by: Paul Bernbaum.
Director of photography: Jonathan Freeman.
Edited by Michael Berenbaum.
Music by Marcelo Zarvos.
Released by Focus.
Country of Origin: USA. 126 min. Rated: R.
With: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith & Robin Tunney.

In 1959, Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a down-on-his-luck private detective with a case going nowhere, convinces the mother of the late George Reeves to find out what really happened to her son, who reportedly committed suicide during a party. Simo digs under all of the dirt covering the actor’s death, leading him to MGM executive Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins). Meanwhile in flashbacks, George Reeves meets Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), Eddie’s wife. After some getting-to-know-you chitchat, they very quickly become lovers. Soon, he rises to fame as the star of what was, at first, thought of as just another B-level TV series, Adventures of Superman. Reeves himself is taken aback by his own success, and then can’t quite shake off his superhero image: His appearance in From Here to Eternity gets laughs from the audience, and he can’t pull his career together once the series ends, aside from wrestling jobs. In this mystery and tragedy culled together, one man, Mannix, may or may not be behind everything, all due to his very cold, tightly-wound relationship with his wife.

It’s both pleasurable and frustrating to see a film like Hollywoodland take the complete shape that it does, because overall it’s a handsomely-mounted production that goes on too long (even at 126 minutes) to tell its two stories. In fact, each storyline on its own actually needs more time to really feel complete, as first-time screenwriter Paul Bernbaum juggles with keeping up the sleek noir mood and dialog for Brody’s scenes while making the film still compelling for Reeves’ downward spiral.

Brody, particularly in this film, is worth watching as a gumshoe. The scene where he and Bob Hoskins’s Mannix are onscreen face to face is chilling, but a moment like this is few and far between. The drama around Simo feels undercooked, especially with the subplot involving his ex-wife and estranged son. In these moments, the film seems closer to what director Allen Coulter might have directed on television (he’s an alumni of Sex and the City and The Sopranos).

On the other hand, this is the first time since Changing Lanes in 2002 that I can really recommend a movie based, in part, on a Ben Affleck performance. Although some of his chops in this case can be attributed to his great chemistry with Lane, who herself is nearly infallible here, he brings to the role of Reeves a powerful demeanor by revealing his charms and vulnerabilities. And Affleck is even funny at times; a drunken and slovenly Reeves, before making a public appearance as Superman, worries whether his penis can be seen through his tights.

As Coulter cuts back exactly three times to show different scenarios of the night of Reeves’ suicide/possible murder, the tragedy gains significance. But consequently, Simo’s story becomes more and more routine, “been here, done that” in genre terms. In the end, Hollywoodland all the more has me expecting the other big Hollywood based-on-a-true murder-mystery coming out this month, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia. Jack Gattanella
September 8, 2006