# Hollywoodland **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486 "2006-07-21T15:04:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/41 "2006-09-09T02:55:31Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I wonder if the choice of Ben Affleck was wise, given the recent backlash against him for his personal life [/QUOTE] You make it sound like he did something scandalous. What is he guilty of? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/42 "2006-09-09T04:58:20Z")
Ben-Lo. _That’s_ what he’s guilty of! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/43 "2006-09-09T05:16:57Z")
Anyway, saw it tonight. It was rather “meh” in that the screenplay tried to do too much by telling three separate stories: George Reeves’ life in the 1950s, Adrian Brody and his search for the truth, and Adrian Brody and his son. 1/3 biopic, 1/3 whodunit, 1/3 Lifetime Movie of the Week. The third story was completely superfluous, added as a heavy, ham-fisted metaphor which totally stopped the film whenever it appeared. It was the only _bad_ element in an otherwise OK film. Affleck did a pretty good job with the thankless task offered: he had to portray a man who _might’ve_ been depressed enough to take his own life… or not. The films focus is on Adrian Brody, probably to its detriment. He’s a fine actor, but I’ve never considered him true leading material. All in all, 7/10. And I’m probably being generous. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/44 "2006-09-09T08:59:00Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] The NY Times had a _really_ nasty review today: not so much of the movie, but Manohla Dargis jumped up and down on George Reeves’ grave: _Yow!!_ [/QUOTE] Well, remind me to _never_ read anything of hers. Reeves may not have been the finest actor to ever tread the boards, but he was a damn sight better than 2/3rds of the ones working today (Keanu Reeves, I’m looking in _your_ direction). I think that if he’d been given the chance, he could have pulled off a film noir role easily. **AuntiePam** , thank you for fowarding the link, IMHO, **jumblejim** ’s contribution has to rank as one of the finest in the history of the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/45 "2006-09-09T14:47:36Z")
I meant the whole Gigli Ben-lo thing. Not that he killed anybody or insulted the Jews or anything, but the media saturation at the time had some saying his recent box office failures were because of this. Whether this is the reason or not, he hasn’t had a hit in a while. And the cheating on Matt as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/46 "2006-09-09T18:58:47Z")
I feel obliged to note a very early Staff Report: [Was “Superman” star George Reeves a suicide–or murder victim?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mreeves.html) … which raises the questions that **jumblejim** so nicely answers. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/47 "2006-09-09T21:14:35Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] All in all, 7/10. And I’m probably being generous. [/QUOTE] I was at the advance screening with **stargazer** and her husband. Good cast, very well acted all around; competent direction, if short of inspired (definitely the first film by a TV guy); very good period design; and a workmanlike if occasionally clunky screenplay. Overall, I’d say B, maybe B+ for a handful of very good moments make the film worth seeing: Reeves slouching in his seat at the first screening of _From Here to Eternity_, for example, or the very creepy “he deserves a _statue._” It ain’t no _L.A. Confidential_, but then what the hell is? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/48 "2006-09-10T18:43:07Z")
Well, Ben Affleck has won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role as George Reeves. Certainly, his performance (as well as Lane’s) are the things that seem to consistently get the best notices out of otherwise so-so reviews (it’s hovering in the 60s on both Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic). ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/49 "2006-09-10T20:33:12Z")
**Jim** – excellent summation of the case. I wonder – do you think it’s possible that Reeves was just fooling around with his gun and shot himself by accident? He was drunker than I’ve ever been in my life, and it is the sort of thing that seems to happen fairly often when drunks handle loaded weapons. Of course, that’s not as dramatic as either murder or suicide. People want a story to have a dramatic ending, but so often in real life it’s just sad and anticlimactic. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/50 "2006-09-10T21:08:06Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I meant the whole Gigli Ben-lo thing. Not that he killed anybody or insulted the Jews or anything, but the media saturation at the time had some saying his recent box office failures were because of this. Whether this is the reason or not, he hasn’t had a hit in a while. And the cheating on Matt as well 🙂 [/QUOTE] I think anything Ben ever did was forgotten when it was overshadowed by an even bigger star’s couch-jumping and psychiatry-bashing escapades. As someone said, Ben at least seems to have a sense of humor about himself which makes him more forgivable. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/51 "2006-09-10T21:43:00Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] **Jim** – excellent summation of the case. I wonder – do you think it’s possible that Reeves was just fooling around with his gun and shot himself by accident? He was drunker than I’ve ever been in my life, and it is the sort of thing that seems to happen fairly often when drunks handle loaded weapons. Of course, that’s not as dramatic as either murder or suicide. People want a story to have a dramatic ending, but so often in real life it’s just sad and anticlimactic. [/QUOTE] Heck, it’s been known to happen to sober people. Mary Tyler Moore’ son was killed when the gun he was cleaning went off and killed him. According to her, the gun was later recalled because of design flaws. One of the members of ZZ Top was wounded when the gun he was carrying in his boot fell out and went off. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/52 "2006-09-10T21:57:47Z")
[QUOTE=jumblejim] I have no idea why that title was chosen, but I find it interesting that one of Hollywood’s other famous suicides was that of Peg Entwhistle, who leaped to her death from one of the letters of the well-known Hollywood sign. [/QUOTE] Thus becoming one of the first Hollywood stars to die from H. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/53 "2006-09-11T14:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Indeed, I would marry him after that post, but for the fact that I would then be named “Eve Golden-Beaver.” [/QUOTE] If I didn’t already admire you greatly, I would indeed have to form an attachment based on that sentence alone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/54 "2006-09-11T17:49:56Z")
[QUOTE=jumblejim] The original title was “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” Warner Bros. threatened to sue Focus Features if they used the slogan, and so it was changed to “Hollywoodland.” [/QUOTE] I suppose calling it “Faster than a Speeding Bullet” would have been considered _very_ poor taste. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/55 "2007-04-01T03:45:33Z")
Finally got around to watching Hollywoodland. I remembered the reviews saying how good Ben Affleck’s performance was, but few of them said that the movie only comes to live when he’s on screen. The Adrien Brody half of the movie was almost without redeeming qualities: sheer cliché from beginning to end. How anybody who could write the sparkling dialog of the Affleck scenes could make the other half so dull is a bigger mystery than anything about Reeve’s death. The re-creation of 50s Hollywood was also extremely well done, the best I can remember offhand certainly. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/56 "2007-04-02T18:03:53Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] It’s hard for me to go see a movie in which the critics say the best thing about it is Ben Affleck’s acting!! :eek: [/QUOTE] that is a tad alarming. i sat through a dvd of \*‘paycheck’ \* at home - then looked to the divemaster to demand my money back. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/57 "2007-04-02T18:24:18Z")
Just saw it over the weekend. Really a great film - sure the noir parts were played a bit too noir to blend in with the attempt to peg this as a real bio-flick murder mystery, but I enjoyed the 50’s feel and the way the story played out. I am not a Ben Affleck fan - don’t dislike him either - but thought he did a great job. For once his own personal story didn’t distract from the character - if anything, quite the opposite. But either way, he seemed to inhabit Reeves very effectively. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486/58 "2007-04-02T18:37:55Z")
[QUOTE=Morgyn] I suppose calling it “Faster than a Speeding Bullet” would have been considered _very_ poor taste. [/QUOTE] And “Slower than a Speeding Bullet” would have been more accurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoodland/365486.md?page=2)