Truth, Justice, and the Hollywood Way
Ben Affleck, Adrien Brody, Diane Lane

Review by Breanne Boland September 21, 2006 Issue

I like Ben Affleck. He does some unfortunate things, both in movies and out, but generally I like him. I liked Hollywoodland in part because it gave him the chance to do what he does very, very well – being funny and self-effacing and charming in that square-jawed, broad-shouldered, conventionally handsome way of his.

In the story within the story of the film, Affleck plays George Reeves, the first ill-fated actor to play Superman. When the film starts, Reeves is already dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Adrien Brody is a bottom-feeding private investigator hired by Reeves’ mother to find out the truth behind the LAPD’s explanation of his death. He starts by milking the woman for money, as he does with all his clients. Soon, he’s propelled by his own obsession, the possibility of finding some unknown truth that can make Reeves’ death more palatable and less abjectly horrible.

In the meantime, he tangles with policemen, hired thugs, his family, the vice president of MGM (Bob Hoskins), and his wife (Diane Lane), who was Reeves’ lover. Throughout, we flash back to Reeves’ life: his ascent as an actor, his difficulty resolving his identity as a serious thespian with his fame as a character who appears on television in red underwear, and his final days. As Brody learns more, the tale changes as more possible culprits come to light, until he eventually lands on an explanation more melancholy than one would expect even from a film about an actor who killed himself.

Lane and Brody also acquit themselves nicely. Lane plays the kind of aggressive femme fatale she does so well, although perhaps for the first time, she shows the fragility and fear of aging. Usually she’s warmly lit and embraced by the camera, so it’s quite a departure, and it works well for the character. Brody’s lanky self looks so out of place among everyone else in the movie that just the sight of him suggests the kind of displacement and malaise his recently divorced character is going through. Brody does dejected and destroyed better than most anyone. He did it best in The Pianist, but he does it well here.

People like to engage in what I think is a fruitless line of thought: who are the successors of past greats? Who’s the new Cary Grant, today’s Grace Kelly, and the contemporary Humphrey Bogart? It’s a useless thing to think about — today’s world of film is so different there are no direct lines to be traced. It’s as pointless as wondering who the new Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin might be — the form has changed, and so the people doing it have changed as well. It’s an idea people like to argue when they’re talking about how disposable most Hollywood offerings are today, conveniently ignoring that there were always flimsy starlets out there, and often they were manufactured more callously than now. You can see the absurdity of this argument in Hollywoodland — put any pretty, capable actors of today’s cinema into the glamorous trappings of the 1950s — the tuxedos and evening gowns and cigarette holders and such — and they could likely hold their own with the luminaries of the supposed golden age of cinema.

So often films that reenact hallowed Hollywood history treat the material as if it is fragile and sacred and the veil of decades scrubs the dirt from normal living. In this film, the characters are fallible, often deeply so. People are screwed up now, and they were screwed up then, and by showing them warts, ugly endings, and all, Hollywoodland is a biopic worth watching.

Bottom line: a smart tale of immortality and imperfection

Coming Attractions

September 22
Jackass: Number Two – Will it win awards? Is it worth a second viewing? Probably not, but for more people than are willing to admit it, this kind of stuff is more riveting than the avalanche of Oscar contenders about to show up.

All the King’s Men – Sean Penn, Jude Law, Patricia Clarkson, and more respected actors take on this apparently solid remake of the 1949 classic.

Flyboys – The tale of a squadron of American fighter pilots that aided the French military before the U.S. entered the war. The effects and firefights are supposedly riveting.

September 29
School for Scoundrels – A comedy from the director of Old School, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as two men vying for the same woman.

The Guardian – Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher are a mentor and a novice rescue swimmer, respectively, learning lessons and overcoming obstacles on the way to Kutcher’s first rescue.

Open Season – Ashton Kutcher and Martin Lawrence voice this animated film about animals in the woods as hunting season starts. The same folks who created Monster House made it.

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