Review: Hollywoodland

Filed under: Reviews

Years ago, the Hollywood sign in the hills of Southern California used to be "Hollywoodland". This movie takes place years ago and ponders what happened to George Reeves, the actor who portrayed and always regretted playing "Superman" in the early days of television.

Reeves is played, in flashback, by Ben Affleck. As an actor, Ben is a good writer. But as Reeves, it gives him the meatiest role of his career and he handles it well. Adrien Brody plays Louis Simo, one of those down and out and grungy private detectives you can't help but like. Diane Lane is Toni Mannix, who had a long-running affair with Reeves. Her husband happened to be Eddie Mannix, the head of MGM Studios.

While Reeves made a decent living playing the "Man of Steel", he always yearned for more and actually did land a role in From Here to Eternity, but most of his part was cut after test audiences couldn't get over the fact he was Superman.

To this day, the death of George Reeves remains a bit of a mystery: was he murdered, was he killed accidentally after a fight with his girlfriend, or was it suicide, the official cause of death? The movie does not solve this mystery, but that's not the point. It's the journey.

Hollywoodland is directed by Allen Coulter, a veteran television director whose credits include episodes of Rome and The Sopranos.

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