 The first thing you have to ask yourself about Hollywoodland is who is this film’s target audience? A semi-fictionalized
account of the adult life of 1950s era actor George Reeves, known as Superman to
the baby boom generation, it takes as its subject a person who isn’t
particularly popular with contemporary audiences and whose mythos has diminished
rather than grown over the years. Are there really enough George Reeves fans out
there to support this kind of film? Alternately, is the film engaging and
revealing enough to get past its rather dull subject matter and bring in viewers
based on its entertainment value alone? Looking at Hollywoodland’s tepid
box office receipts, I’d say that the answer to both of those questions is
‘no.’
Beyond the limited appeal of its subject matter, Hollywoodland is a deeply conflicted film. It’s a neo-Noir but it’s also
a bio-pic, a story of redemption and a cautionary tale. The plot is constructed
around private detective Louis Simo’s (Adrian Brody) investigation into the
apparent suicide of Reeves (Ben Afleck), whose story is told in flashback
format. Simo wanders around Hollywood in a moody funk, interviewing Reeves’
friends and colleagues as he attempts to put together a theory on why and how
the Superman actor died. Meanwhile, Simo struggles to understand why his
pre-teen son is so devastated by Reeves’ death and why his marriage seems to be
falling apart. Added to the flashback format is a series of dream sequences that
further muddle the narrative.
 Though director Allen Coulter seems to want the
audience to perceive these threads as a tightly woven whole, the stories of Simo
and Reeves more often seem to pull against one another. Reeves’ story is
compelling enough to keep the audience engaged but Simo’s lacks the kind of
emotional resonance it needs to counter balance the film. The fictional gumshoe
isn’t made empathetic enough to warrant giving him the lion’s share of our
attention. Rather than being intrigued by his effort to get at the truth of both
the murder and his own lot in life, we’re more often left wondering when the
Reeves story will pick back up.
Even the narrative structure could be forgiven if Hollywoodland at least knew what kind of film it wanted to be. Coulter
seems to want it to be a neo-Noir but he fails in the execution in one critical
way; Hollywoodland is a story of redemption and redemption is the
antithesis of Noir. The classic Noir story involves the rapid descent of the
main  character into his or her personal hell. Noir heroes don’t come to a deeper
understanding of their own personal relationships, they watch as their misguided
choices lead them down a road that usually ends in death. Reeves’ arc follows
this format but Coulter seems unable to commit to making Reeves a Noir hero,
preferring to soften him and pull his story toward the more generic format of
the cautionary tale of Hollywood excess and broken dreams. Ultimately, Coulter
tries to give his audience everything and in theprocess gives them nothing. The
addition of the Simo character simply dilutes what could have been a satisfying
blending of real-life events and the Noir story telling technique. What we’re
left with is an exercise in style that has little satisfying substance behind
it.
To the film’s credit, Ben Afflek and Dianne Lane
give excellent performances. They seem perfectly matched as Reeves and his love
interest. There’s a palpable chemistry between them and Afflek shows that he
really can act when he puts his mind to it. Brody is also very good in his role,
but his look seems incongruous to me. There’s an ineffably modern quality to his
appearance that makes him something of an anachronism. I found it very hard to
buy him as a 1950s man. That could just be my personal reaction though, as the
sets, costumes, locations, hair and makeup are all handled with a great deal of
technical aplomb. The film is a successful period piece in terms of its
production design. If only the plotting had been as seamless.
 Video Presentation
DVD studios have had plenty of time to figure out
how to make a good transfer and that’s exactly what you get on Hollywoodland. Universal used a completely pristine print without a hint
of dirt of wear. That’s to be expected with a recent film. Unfortunately there
is a fair amount of edge sharpening to be seen in some of the scenes. My main
home theater includes a 46-inch DLP where the sharpening stands out like a sore
thumb, but it’s also evident when playing the movie on my 26 inch CRT. Universal
should know better than to apply so much sharpening to the image that it causes
a halo around dark objects against light backgrounds.
Audio Presentation
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is expertly
mixed, giving this dialogue driven film a reasonably enveloping environment. The
surrounds are used for various ambient noises and there are one or two nice loud
bangs to wake up your sub-woofer. Since it’s not an action film your home
theater won’t get a work out but for a dialogue driven movie, the mix is
serviceable and gives a very theatrical feel to the film.
Extras
Featurette: Re-creating Old Hollywood - The
one area where Hollywoodland is free from flaws is in its production
design. The film does an excellent job of re-creating Hollywood of the 1950s and
this brief but interesting featurette shows how the prop, costume and set
designers went above and beyond the call of duty to accomplish their goal.
Hollywood Then and Now – Exactly as the title
suggests, this is a look at how the locations in the film have changed since the
‘50s.
 Behind the Headlines – This is the standard
EPK piece that includes brief interviews with Coulter, Afflek and others. It’s a
fluff piece but at just over five minutes, it’s worth checking out at least
once.
Deleted Scenes – It’s a testament to the
filmmakers that each of these deleted scenes could be reinserted without
negatively impacting the movie. Totaling roughly five minutes, these trims seem
to have been removed to tighten the pace of the film. There aren’t any dramatic
revelations to be found here but they are fun to watch
nonetheless.
Director Commentary – Allen Coulter is an
articulate and deep thinking craftsman so his commentary track for Hollywoodland is fast paced and filled with interesting information. He
gives a great deal of insight into his approach to the film and goes a long way
toward explaining why he made the choices he did.
Conclusion
For all its
flaws, Hollywoodland is
still a well excited film that's worth
checking out at least once. Good performances by the principle actors, excellent
production design and a respectful look at the life of George
Reeves redeem its
conflicted thematic approach, making the DVD worth a rental
if not a purchase. The nice slate of special features are sure
to please people who want a deeper look at the making of the
movie.
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