Hollywoodland

This film is © by Focus Features, 2006

Starring:

Adrien Brody as Luis Simo
Dianne Lane as Toni Mannix
Ben Affleck as George Reeves
Robin Tunney as Leonore Lemmon

Directed by: Allen Coulter

RATING:

This film focuses on the mysterious death of actor George Reeves in 1959.While George Reeves attains only moderate success in Hollywood, he gains a bit of notoriety by playing Superman in the original black and white television show. His death is officially recorded as suicide, yet there seems to be doubts by some people regarding Reeves' death. This film is broken down on two levels: one is the tale of Luis Simo, a small time private eye hired by the star's mother to investigate the death of her son; the other is a series of flashbacks where we see key events in Reeves' life. The life of George Reeves is an interesting one and there was far more to the man than the silly suit and cape. This helps the film a great deal as it has a lot to work with and it does a good job exploring many aspects in great depth. As a biographical picture this movie is very successful, as a murder mystery… well that's another story and more on that later.

The acting is pretty good and the cast delivers a solid performance. Adrien Brody, Dianne Lane, and Ben Affleck all perform well and are the strength of this film. This is essential as the life of George Reeves is what makes this movie interesting not the mystery of his death. Reeves is a man who has several troublesome relationships with women. From his mother to Toni Mannix, a wealthy older woman married to a powerful MGM mogul. Later it moves on to Leonore, a very shady fiancé. While Reeves' life is not really a train wreck he does make some choices that limit his career. He becomes typecast and his image is synonymous with Superman. Now if this would have been a meal ticket he could have used for the rest of his life then maybe he woud of been ok. But Reeves is much like most actors in that while his role gets a great deal of exposure it does not translate to big money or a long career. Reeves' struggles in Hollywood. Being Toni Mannix's favorite pet ends up frustrating him a great deal as well. On top of that he indirectly creates a great deal of enemies all who are suspects when he winds up dead.

This movie had the makings of a great picture but there is onle glaring problem. In real life, Reeves' cause of death is officially suicide and while it has been investigated no clear evidence of murder has ever come up. Therefore to make this murder mystery interesting this film has to present something else. Since no substantial facts have been discovered the movie would basically have to make some up to reach a good conclusion. This film does not do that, instead it presents various possibilities of what may have happened based on the facts we have. The whole point of having a murder mystery and private eye detectives is solving the mystery! Having a story such as this makes it somewhat defeat its own purpose. At some point the viewer realizes that this mystery will not be solved so you end up asking yourself "What's the point?" The side story of the life of private eye Simo goes nowhere as well and has no real conclusion.

While this film offers a very interesting story it does fall into a trap by making itself a murder mystery that has no real resolution. That's too bad because a great story is being misused here. This is not a bad movie and I'm sure most people will enjoy the life story of George Reeves but I cannot help thinking that many people will feel a bit disappointed at the end, especially if you enjoy murder mysteries. I will not tell anyone to stay away from this movie but don't expect the unraveling of a great mystery. If you are a fan of 1940's and 50's Hollywood there will be more to enjoy here so it is not a wasted two hours by all means.