Review of Hollywoodland (2006) by Dave C — 15 Aug 2010

Not a classic as this film sort of falls into the same approach as 'The Black Dahlia' where the director and writer don't come to any firm conclusion and then just offer several suggestions about what could have happened.

This beggars the question: why bother telling the story if you haven't got a strong opinion? In fact the story of George Reeves and his life up to his death is by far the most interesting thing here and I wish they had just stuck with that story instead of having some sort of fictional detective story running parallel.

Brody is fine as the detective (although I've yet to see him in anything yet that convinces me he is an Oscar-worthy actor) but it is Affleck who is the revelation here and makes the whole thing worhwhile.

What with this, 'Gone Baby Gone' and 'State of Play' he is really back on the Hollywood map and I'm looking forward to seeing his next project. Never thought I'd be saying that a few years ago!