Hollywoodland.

Neither the Voice's J Hoberman nor the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Cheryl Eddy can resist noting that the summer's been bookended by Superman. Hoberman: "If Superman Returns attempted to resurrect the Man of Steel as mythic hero, the season's other Superman movie wants to disabuse us of any such childish illusions.... Like its protagonist, Hollywoodland has an easy, sleazy appeal - a languid descent into the mystery's murky depths. The truth turns out to be unknowable, but Hollywoodland does have a knowing look."

Eddy: "Hollywoodland's savviest ploy is casting [Ben] Affleck as [George] Reeves. Yes, it offers the actor a shot at regaining his credibility, but more important, the Reeves character benefits from the extra dimension only Affleck's inflated matinee idol persona can provide."

Updated through 9/8.

Sean Burns in the Philadelphia Weekly: "Unable to decide if it wants to be a mystery or biography, [feature film] first-timer Paul Bernbaum's screenplay settles for doing both badly."

"It's high concept but low energy, a notorious tragedy awkwardly forced into a half-hearted whodunit wedged haphazardly into yet another story of fathers and sons," finds Michael Koresky, kicking off Reverse Shot's round at indieWIRE.

So who did kill Reeves? At Cinematical, Richard von Busack finds all sorts of sites where you'll hear all sorts of theories espoused.

Online listening tip. Adrien Brody, whose performance has generally been praised, and director Allen Coulter on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Update: "Yes, the early filmmakers came from radio, from the age of radio, and they used sound in that way. People say that movies became more visual, but it's not entirely true," Coulter tells Ray Pride at Movie City Indie.

Updates, 9/7: Ella Taylor, writing in the LA Weekly, is one of the few to laud Affleck, calling this "his finest performance yet." Then, after the rest of the pluses and minuses, "If nothing else, Hollywoodland will blanch the cheeks of unrecognized actors, screenwriters and directors biding their time all over this town, anxious victims of the pipe dream that keeps promising stardom and riches just around the next corner, if only they'll keep the rest of their lives on hold just that little while longer."

Bryant Frazer: "There's got to be a fascinating yarn in here somewhere, a character study in quiet desperation and a look at how a man kissed by celebrity can still be tormented by the fame he never achieved and disillusioned by the promise of a Hollywood that turned out to be little more than a tease. What we get is more like a TV movie."

For David Fellerath, who recalls novels and films that have far better told "the story of burnout, failure and death in Hollywood," Diane Lane's performance is "the best and virtually only reason to see Hollywoodland."

A "Tinseltown story without the tinsel, a whodunit that has little mystery," grumbles Marjorie Baumgarten in the Austin Chronicle.

Coulter "keeps trying and trying to make it more of a story," writes Duncan Shepherd for the San Diego Reader. "And failing, failing."

Justin Ravitz in the New York Press: "This is the perfect role for Affleck: a blandly handsome, kinda-talented actor whose better performances embrace, rather than deny, his mediocre aspects."

Ryan Stewart at Cinematical: "Hollywoodland seems giddy over the fact that it's beaten James Ellroy to the punch on a story that would fit snugly into his peek-under-the-skirt-of-post-war-L.A. milieu.... Had Ellroy actually written this work, the hitman angle would sing."

Jette Kernion: "Ultimately, Hollywoodland does not quite deliver what its suspenseful premise and lovely visuals promise, but the performances help make the film worth a look."

Updates, 9/8: "George Reeves was a sad case, but not every sob story or even every suicide has the makings of a tragedy," notes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "Even the filmmakers don’t seem especially convinced on this count, since half of Hollywoodland involves a dead-end pseudo-noir about another hustler, a private eye named Louis Simo, whom Adrien Brody fails to shape into a character of interest despite much aggressive eyebrow raising."

Jonathan Rosenbaum surprises with a recommendation in the Chicago Reader: "The period details and performances are uniformly superb (Bob Hoskins is especially good as MGM executive Eddie Mannix), and the major characters are even more complex than those in Chinatown."

Posted by dwhudson at September 6, 2006 9:23 AM