Review of Maps to the Stars (2014) by Glenn G — 28 Feb 2015

STILL MALICE - My Review of MAPS TO THE STARS (2 Stars).

THE PLAYER, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, SUNSET BLVD., and ALL ABOUT EVE are films that come to mind when I think about great show business satires. Unfortunately, David Cronenberg's MAPS TO THE STARS, with a screenplay written by famed Hollywood Skewerer, Bruce Wagner, will not join that legendary pantheon. Instead, it's a tone deaf, deadly dull, pretentious slog only occasionally elevated by a great performance by Julianne Moore, reliably edgy work by Olivia Williams, and a truly disturbing turn by Evan Bird, who almost manages to Out-Bieber Justin Bieber.

Things start out on the wrong foot as we meet Agatha (a pretty blank performance by Mia Wasikowska) a new arrival to LA who hires a limo, driven by Jerome (Robert Pattinson, also blank) to return her to a decaying city. The timing and dialogue are stiff, filled with awkward pauses and miss opportunities for landing jokes. I'm certain Cronenberg and Wagner and company were going for that effect, but it just comes across as flat and amateurish.

It's only until Julianne Moore's character, Havana Segrand, a fading actor hellbent on landing a role in a remake of a film that initially starred her late mother, that the film truly takes flight. Luckily, her role is large, so we're treated to every nuance of Havana's narcissism, neurosis, and contempt. Moore takes self-loathing to new heights here, richly deserving her Golden Globe nomination for her performance. In need of a new personal assistant, or "chore whore", Moore hires Agatha, whose past is clearly troubled if we're to go from her burn scars and disaffected manner.

Agatha comes from a well-to-do, completely dysfunctional family consisting of her self-help Guru father (John Cusack), nervous wreck manager mother (Olivia Williams, who with this and GHOST WRITER has clearly cornered the market on this type of character), and sociopathic child actor brother (Evan Bird). Clearly there are deep dark secrets to be revealed and their story overlaps with Havana's in multiple ways.

On paper, this should be a fun, smart, scabrous experience. Instead, it's oftentimes a plodding, humorless dirge. Sure, Cronenberg instills it with his trademark creepy moments, including an in-your-face limo seduction, a tense Russian Roulette scene, and a shocking, very bloody murder, but too much of the time I found myself wishing Billy Wilder would swoop in for a rewrite and an admonishment to all involved that it wouldn't hurt to lighten up.

Julianne Moore gets it. It's an alive, over-the-top performance whether she's bragging about her having spent time with the Dalai Lama, sitting on a toilet while she barks orders at her assistant, or not-so-subtly taking down her competition for her next role. Her emotions are so raw, whereas most of the cast has been directed to flatline everything. Sometimes it works, as Bird's approach to his just-out-of rehab 13-year-old is a chilling portrait of a soulless, amoral success story. Other times, such as with Pattinson, it just feels like disaffection for disaffection's sake, and not to truly serve its characters.

Technically, however, this is a beautiful movie, with legendary Cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and longtime Cronenberg Production Designer Carol Spier providing a sleek, rich, believable Hollywood look to the table. It's unfortunate that a movie about the crazy energy this town generates on a daily basis isn't captured for most of its running time.