Hollywoodland (2006)

I'm something of a sucker for films that recreate the old days in Hollywood and this movie about the death of a minor actor has much to commend it.  Ben Affleck literally becomes actor George Reeves in this movie -- an actor whose first role was a minor one in "Gone with the Wind" but who then was forced into accepting lesser and lesser parts until his breakthrough as Superman on 50's TV; he became an idol of the children, but so typecast that his original casting in the Monty Cliff role in "From Here to Eternity" was laughed off the screen by preview audiences.  I had always thought that his death was a suicide of despair, but this intriguing movie presents other possibilities.

Affleck does his best work ever here to present the rounded Reeves character and has done his research well, but the role of an actor down on his luck might well have had some resonance for him.  For a man with big dreams, success as the kiddies' hero had to be a let-down, but it was his long affair with the aging wife (Diane Lane) of the MGM studio enforcer (Bob Hoskins) which may have led to his death.  In the course of the movie we are presented with various scenarios, including suicide, as cheapy private eye Louis Simo, played by Adrien Brody, investigates the death, looking for his own 15 minutes in the limelight.  The film cuts between Brody's investigation and the facts of Reeves' life not quite as smoothly as I would have wished, and for my money there was too much Brody altogether.  The true facts of the case remain unknown and this is a far more interesting story -- with excellent period detail -- than the sordid insight into the fictional Simo's own redemption.

Despite this reservation, all four lead actors were fine, and although Affleck's turn was a highpoint of his somewhat wooden career, Lane's was the true standout performance.  She was playing older than her real age and had no vanity at letting us see her character's growing desperation.

Tags: Hollywoodland, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane