At one point in "Hollywoodland," the debut film from director Allen Coulter, unemployed actor George Reeves' agent tells him, "An actor can't always act - sometimes he has to work."
Reeves' is played by Ben Affleck, and you can't help but wonder how many times Affleck himself has said or heard those words over the course of his career. This is not to say that he has lacked in gigs, but that improving his craft has perhaps not always been the first thing on his mind when selecting roles.
Affleck has become the butt of many jokes in recent years due to tabloid romances and a string of astonishingly bad movies (see 2003's "Paycheck" and "Gigli" - or better yet, don't). Simply put, there are many moviegoers out there who love to hate Ben Affleck.
For those people, I regret being the bearer of bad news, but Affleck gives a career-reviving performance in "Hollywoodland," bringing welcome subtlety and emotional depth to the role of a troubled '50s TV star. Unfortunately, the film itself leaves unanswered the question of why Reeves' story needs to be told in the first place.
"Hollywoodland" opens in 1959 Los Angeles with police investigating the death of George Reeves, the titular hero on TV's "Adventures of Superman." The LAPD closes the case as a suicide, but private eye Louis Simo (played by Adrien Brody) is not convinced. Hungry for money and publicity, Simo gets himself hired by Reeves' mother to chase the theory that the actor was actually murdered.
Reeves' story is told in flashbacks, beginning with the soon-to-be star as a struggling actor trying to get photographed at Hollywood parties with A-listers like Rita Hayworth. At one such party, Reeves flirts with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of MGM bigwig Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins, playing tough). Reeves becomes Mrs. Mannix's boy-toy (she literally refers to him as a "boy"), and she sets him up with a new house and the Superman role, among other things.
Kids all over America adore Reeves as Superman, but typecasting limits his career to the point where the only other job he can get is as a professional wrestler. Reeves grows increasingly depressed, and his reasons for suicide mount. Simo, however, argues that other characters' motives for murder also escalate.
The film takes its time to unfold and runs a little long. But it is often engrossing and drips with atmosphere. From the opening frames, the movie captures the period that Hollywood likes to refer to as "The Golden Age" even as it exposes its dark underbelly. Paul Bernbaum's script succeeds at balancing the mythos inherent to the era with the human emotion necessary to involve the audience in its story. Accordingly, the principal actors offer mostly intriguing performances, especially Affleck and Lane.
In playing Mannix, a woman whose confident air belies insecurity over her aging beauty, Lane shows the same virtuosity she displayed in "Unfaithful" (2002). Affleck lends the pained Reeves a surface affability that the actor may have learned from his personal experiences with the highs and lows of Hollywood.
Affleck is at his best when he portrays Reeves' weariness and sadness in the days leading up to his death. There is life behind Affleck's eyes that hasn't been seen since 1997, the year of both "Good Will Hunting" and "Chasing Amy." Affleck and Lane offer powerful and emotional characterizations, tinged with melancholy.
It is Brody's performance that is symptomatic of the problems with the movie as a whole. Technically, there is nothing wrong with it: A reliable actor, Brody does what he can with the role and effectively provides for the audience the connection to Reeves' misfortunes. But we've seen it all before. At this point, the fast-talking, rough-and-tumble L.A. P.I. is a clich?©, and Brody's Simo is no Jake Gittes.
It is not unfair to bring up "Chinatown" (1974), because "Hollywoodland" wears the influence of that film and of "L.A. Confidential" (1997) on its sleeve. However, the central mystery of this film - whether Reeves' death was murder - is not as compelling as it should be. In this respect, the comparison to "Chinatown" and "L.A. Confidential" is not complimentary. There is nothing in the way of hard evidence to support any of the scenarios conjured up by Simo and no clues to pull the audience along. The story of an actor chewed up and spit out by Hollywood is nothing new.
As far as clich?©s go, the movie works as a character study more than anything else. Where "Hollywoodland" succeeds, it does so on the strength of its performances. The evidence of Diane Lane's talents is already in.
But if you want proof that Ben Affleck actually can act, this is the movie for you.
