Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland is not a great movie. I’ll say that right off the bat, but I’ll save the bitching for later. I want to start off by praising Ben Affleck, a decent actor who has made a few bad decisions over the years. His work in this film is a nice antidote for Armageddon and Gigli, for both Affleck and the audience. This is a fictionalization of circumstances surrounding the death of George Reeves, the man who played Superman in the ’50s television series. One year after the show ended, he was found dead in his bedroom, a gunshot to his head. It was ruled a suicide, but some evidence suggested his death could’ve been the result of foul play. His death remains one of the great Hollywood mysteries. Affleck plays Reeves, and while the center of the film is actually a fictional private detective named Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), it’s Affleck who steals the picture. Yes, he’s saddled with a completely unnecessary prosthetic nose, but by picture’s end, it doesn’t matter. He’s turned in career-best work.