"Hollywoodland" (Focus Features)
Celebrity Can Be A Killer
“Hollywoodland” is a film about the life and death of George Reeves, the actor who played Clark Kent/Superman on the hit television series “The Adventures of Superman.” Although his death was ruled a suicide, there have always been numerous conjectures as to what really happened to the man who lived in the shadow of the character he portrayed.
The film recreates the aura of the fifties and manages to make the question of “how did George Reeves really die” an interesting and intriguing one. It also introduces a fictional character by the name of Louis Simo (Adrian Brody) as a private detective hired by Reeves mother (Lois Smith) to determine what really happened to her son.
Simo’s investigation leads him to discover that Reeves (Ben Affleck) was having an affair with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane) who was married to a studio boss (Bob Hoskins) who had gangland connections. Reeves broke up with Toni and got involved with a Hollywood starlet named Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney). This could have given Toni, or her protective husband, a motive to have him killed.
Reeves also might have been suicidal. He was not happy with the turn his career was taking since he had become so identified with the role of Superman that he couldn’t get other parts. After the series was cancelled he was reduced to considering a wrestling career.
All of these possibilities and others are explored in the film with a seemingly endless list of suspects, and with one theory being as good as another. Reeves and his circle of friends and lovers do not appear to be a happy group and seem to live and die by the turns in their careers.
The acting in this movie is very good with Affleck leading the way with his performance as Reeves. From the start he appears to be world weary and burned out, with his winning of the Superman role making him even more so. It is not the usual bland turn Affleck has made in the past, but in this one he lets the character absorb him in every way. He proves he has genuine acting talent and lets it flow.
Diane Lane is equally good. Toni Mannix is an “older woman” involved with Reeves and Lane creates a picture of someone who is holding on to her youth by holding on to a younger man. She becomes possessive and manipulative as she becomes more desperate to keep him by her side. It is a full throttle performance by Lane and one that is perfect for the role.
Brody is also good as the oily detective who lives on the fringes of fame. He has problems in his personal life that impact his investigation, and he tries to half-heartedly correct them. Simo is a man who is a fairly good detective and a fairly good parent. He doesn’t excel at either.
The movie is rated R for profanity, violence and partial nudity.
“Hollywoodland” recreates an era in Hollywood when careers were made or broken by the people in power. George Reeves was a man who was broken by having success on the little screen that wouldn’t transfer to the big screen. And therein lay the tragedy.
I scored “Hollywoodland” a tinseled 7 out of 10.
