Hollywoodland
Easily the biggest mistake director Allen Coulter made here was that he did NOT take a page from the book of Orson Welles when he made Citizen Kane: Whereas Welles made the character of the reporter covering the story of Kane into an almost faceless entity, here Coulter tries way too hard to make the investigator looking into the suicide of Superman star George Reeves an integral part of the narrative, bogging the story down with needless subplots about other cases heâs working on as well as his family life. Also, Adrien Brody in the part gives one of the more overly mannered performances this side of Sean Penn. As much as he tries to give the story we came to see which is that of George Reeves and the character all kinds of little tics and eccentricities, all it does is distract from the main circumstances surrounding his demise, and the screenplayâs gimmick of giving Brody âmotivationâ to solve the case by showing how âSupermanâs Deathâ has traumatized and scarred his young son is laughable to say the least (not to mention that the kid dresses like and resembles one of the Little Rascals). But then there is the actual story of Reeves himself, as played by Ben Affleck in one of, if not the best, performances of his career. Affleck literally disappears into the role, putting on weight ala DeNiro and nailing the speech inflections and mannerisms of Reeves to a tee. In some ways, Reevesâ reasons for being depressed are shallow and narcissistic: Because he knew heâd never be an A-list romantic leading man like Clark Gable, he settled instead for a low-budget TV kidâs show that regardless made him an idol for millions of little tykes nationwide. Indeed, the most fascinating dynamic for this viewer was how Superman was barely a blip on the pop culture radar at the time, but through Reevesâ portrayal, transformed into the iconic figure which he has been ever since, including a fascinating scene where a little kid pulls a real gun on him during a personal appearance, thinking the bullets will really bounce off him. The problem, however, remains in the âmysteryâ surrounding Reevesâ death. Even though he was essentially a âboytoyâ to a studio executiveâs wife (which the exec was aware and approved of), neither the Brody character nor the director ever gave me a clear enough motive as to why anybody would want to murder him, leaving this viewer thinking that he really did kill himself and rendering much of the story pointless. In other roles, Bob Hoskins and Diane Lane are pretty damn good as the executive and his wife (Lane is still as beautiful as ever after all these years), and Robin Tunney contributes the right touch of bitchy sex appeal to the role of Reevesâ fiancĂ©e. In the end, a film that could have been fantastic (and perhaps garnered Affleck an Oscar), if it had focused more on its subject and less on the guy trying to figure the whole thing outâŠ
5/10