Sadly Over-hyped

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Blistering performances.

It's 1959 and George Reeves (Ben Affleck) best known as TV Superman is found shot dead in a house full of people. The police rules it a suicide. Questionable private investigator Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) is hired by Helen Bessolo to investigate the death of her son Reeves. As he digs into the case, the show flashes back to Reeves' time in Hollywood starting as a nobody trying to get his foot in the door. He has an affair with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane) who he doesn't know at first that she is actually the wife of a MGM studio head Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins).The movie is a little slow and a little long relishing in the noirish hard-boiled style. Allen Coulter is a TV director and that may be why the movie moves more slowly. It doesn't quite have the urgency. Adrien Brody's slow brooding mannerisms only accentuate the pacing. I like the era and the style. I could do with a quicker pace. Ben Affleck fits this character better than his other nice guy roles. He's a little dark and a little complicated. It signals a change in Affleck's career path for the better. The style is there but the pacing is lacking.

Hollywoodland is a good movie with a well developed storyline and a talented cast.The movie isn't extremely exciting or thrilling,but it is an interesting story,I much preferred the parts that were a biography of George Reeves life over the investigation scenes,the detective scenes were quite slow but Reeves life story was fast paced and very interesting.Ben Affleck did a great job as George Reeves on this film,a lot of people complain about him as an actor,but I think he's really good and I don't feel like he's "just acting",I truly believed he was Reeves,his personality was nothing like the way you would see Affleck on interviews.I wasn't very happy with the ending of the film,although I understood why they did it,it still annoyed me.Hollywoodland can be very slow,but it's still quite enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good biography film or drama. A private eye investigates the suspicious death of Superman actor George Reeves in 1950s LA.Best Performance: Ben Affleck Worst Performance: Lois Smith

I usually don't review a film after 100 other IMDb'ers already have, but this time I'm going to make an exception. I've got an ax to grind.I am totally opposed to the kind of film that denigrates real people with a lack of real evidence to back up the denigration, and their inability to stand up for themselves. And in this film, it's rampant. If most of these people were still alive, the producers of this film would have faced at least half-a-dozen lawsuits for defamation of character. And, IMHO, rightfully so. I have no idea whether George Reeves was a wonderful saint or a terrible sinner, but I would like to see the evidence for most of the things that Reeves supposedly did in this film. I would like to know how they know what kind of sex he had with which people, for example. Toni and Eddie Mannix -- studio executive and wife; my impression from the little that I have read is that Mannix was no saint, but again, for all the things that he and his wife supposedly did according to this film, I'd like to see the evidence. Same for Howard Strickling. And George Reeves' mother. In fact, was there a single "good" person portrayed in this film. Most of the characters in this film were real people, and unless they have point-by-point evidence to back up each and every charge, this is disgraceful. So I tell you what I hope for -- that all the people directly involved in the telling unsupportable truths suffer being dragged through the same kind of mud someday; true or not true. That will be karma.That aside, there are some good things about this film, even though it is overly long and relies too much on flashbacks. To a large extent, the acting is quite good. Diane Lane always seems to turn in wonderful performances...and does here. Ben Affleck, here as George Reeves, is not one of my personal favorites, but every once in a while he impresses me...and he does here. Adrien Brody. Hmmm. Sorry, I've never seen the attraction, and still don't. He's not bad; he is acceptable as the detective and focus of the story (one of the few fictional major characters in the film). Production values are quite good and realistic for the time.What should have been done was to make this a fictional story that people might wonder -- is this about George Reeves? Then no one could complain about slander. Instead, people walk away from this film convinced this IS the TRUTH.

After the actor who played Superman on TV is found dead, the actor's mother suspects foul play and hires a private detective. The story of Reeves is interesting because he's a known historical figure of vintage television, but only about half the film is devoted to him. The other half is focused on a private detective investigating Reeves's death. With Brody playing him as somewhat of a cocky jerk, the detective is neither likable nor interesting as he deals with day-to-day problems with his girlfriend, his ex-wife, and his troubled son. Affleck is surprisingly effective as Reeves. Lane is also good as a producer's wife who has an affair with Reeves.