Director:
Allen Coulter

Cast:
Adrien Brody
Diane Lane
Ben Affleck
Bob Hoskins

Official URL:

http://www.hollywoodlandmovie.com

Country: USA
Rating: R
Studio Name: Focus Films & Miramax
Running Time: 2 hr 6 mins
Release Date: September 8, 2006

Critics's Rating:
(3 out of 4 Reels) 

September 8, 2006

By Veronica Mixon

This nostalgic look at old Hollywood in the last 1950s is a fierce reminder that it’s one of the toughest towns in the nation. Hollywoodland explores the scandal following the untimely suicide of actor George Reeves, who was one of the first big television stars. Reeves, a handsome, likeable man, was a struggling film actor when he was cast as the comic book hero, Superman. The low-budget television show was an instant hit across America with families and Reeves found himself pigeon-holed as an actor. So, when he committed suicide, his death shocked the nation.

The film‘s dramatic action is split between George Reeve’s life and that of a down-on-luck gumshoe, Louis Sims played by Oscar winning actor, Adrien Brody. Sims is hired by Reeves’ distraught mother (Lois Smith) and he milks her hysteria for all the money he can get. Along the way, Sims does notice that his young son is very upset by Superman’s death and there is a lot of suspicious behavior among the late actor’s friends and acquaintances. It seems that George Reeves (played with genuine charm and skill by Ben Affleck) had a long time affair with an MGM executive’s wife, Toni Mannix (Diane Lane). Apparently, Mr. Mannix (Bob Hoskins) ignored his wife’s affair until she became unhappy with George’s behavior. Reeves was ambitious and according to his agent, with his movie star good looks and a speaking part opposite Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity, he should have been a bigger film star. George only took the role on television to keep working. Toni Mannix adored him but despite her promises to make him a big star, she really only wanted him to be her devoted lover. She bought him a house and wanted him to be available only to her. So, she’s devastated when George goes to New York City seeking theater work and returns madly in love with a younger woman. But, soon George realizes that the tough talking, impatient Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) is just as selfish as Toni. It seems Superman’s problem was that he found a woman who didn’t want to use him for her own selfish needs.

Meanwhile, Sims angers Mr. Mannix and must face some heart-wrenching truths of his own as the scandal takes on a life of its own. The film suggests three theories for George Reeves’ death without ever truly settling on anything because no on really knows what happened. Nevertheless, the dangerous, cut-throat nature of Hollywood, the intense desperation of those who fail to achieve big-screen stardom and the greed that results from the celebrity lifestyle evidently took their toil on Reeves. Adrien Brody (The Pianist) gives a solid performance as a two-bit detective whose life is a wreck. Diane Lane (Unfaithful) is wonderful as the love-sick, boozy Hollywood wife but the real surprise is Ben Affleck, who reminds audiences that he’s a good actor. As George Reeves, Affleck best known for films like Chasing Amy, Changing Lanes and Bounce, adds depth to the cult of celebrity because everyone knows that he manage to survive the same thing in his own personal life.

Hollywoodland recreates the dark underbelly of the idealized 1950s. While the Hollywood championed invincible heroes, Americans were discovering that celebrities were vulnerable like everyone else.

to TOP