Review of Ed Wood (1994) by Connor B — 25 Oct 2012

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp reunite after the success of Edward Scissorhands to tell the tale of the world's worst director Ed Wood. Wood was an unsuccessful Hollywood visionary whose films were so bad that many people thought they were comedy films and have even garnered a cult following in recent years because of this. Johnny Depp while versatile is not known for his comic roles but in Ed Wood Depp and Burton serve up a treat and Depp's comic timing is perfect. Depp is superb as Wood and should have received far more recognition for this performance and deserved to be at least nominated for an Oscar and Martin Landau thoroughly deserved all the accolades he won because he is superb as Bela Lugosi.

The movie centers on the titular Ed Wood and his strive to become a successful director but the problem is Wood does not have the directorial talent to match his slightly blinded optimism and even when his movies are booed and critically panned he refuses to be put down and continues making lackluster films with his cast of misfits which includes the once popular but now drug addled Bela Lugosi. The plot also follows Wood's love life as he struggles to maintain a relationship with one of his actresses before moving on to his future wife and his other hobby which is cross dressing. Ed Wood is a terrific homage to the director and in typical Ed Wood fashion has built a strong cult following.

In my opinion this is the best Burton/Depp collaboration and I do not think that they will ever repeat the success of Ed Wood as both are in there absolute element here and it is clear that both actor and director have put in the effort to portray Ed Wood the way that he deserves to be played. Martin Landau is phenomenal as Bela Lugosi and the black and white setting give a very old fashioned classic feel to a movie that is sure to become a classic.