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The reported suicide in 1959 of actor George Reeves -- TV’s original Superman -- is a good jumping-off point for this solid (and sordid) tale of Hollywood hypocrisy and corruption. A tour de force for the oft-ridiculed Ben Affleck, who is superb as the depressed Reeves, Hollywoodland actually focuses on the seedy private detective hired by the star’s mother to prove that her son was indeed murdered. Adrien Brody plays the shady shamus, Louis Simo, whose investigation uncovers behind-the-scenes machinations of MGM executive Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins) and his public-relations guru, Howard Strickling (Joe Spano), to hush up the romantic involvement of Reeves with Mannix’s wife, Toni (Diane Lane). As Simo gets closer to the truth, suspicion falls on Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), the hot-tempered wannabe to whom Reeves had just become engaged. Affleck brings depth and poignancy to his characterization, making the kiddie-show star a tragic figure trapped by his own success and unable to capitalize upon it. Lane’s performance is no less skillful; she makes the jealous, possessive Toni Mannix appealingly vulnerable. Brody, too, impresses as the down-at-heel detective driven by an inexplicable force to keeping digging deeper despite all warnings. Hollywoodland plays fast and loose with the historical facts, but director Allen Coulter's film nonetheless captures this essential truth: that by the late ‘50s, Hollywood’s veneer of glamour had begun chipping away, revealing something rotten underneath. — Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The mysterious and unexpected death of an iconic Hollywood star may be just the tip of an iceberg of scandal in this show biz drama based on a true story. George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck) was a journeyman actor who had played a small role in Gone With The Wind and appeared on screen with the likes of James Cagney, Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich, but his career was not exactly booming when he was cast as comic book hero Superman in a 1951 B-movie, Superman and the Mole Men. A year later, the producers of the movie launched a syndicated Superman television series with Reeves returning as the Man of Steel. The show became a major hit, and Reeves was a star at last. However, on June 16, 1959, to the shock of many, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound. Police soon declared Reeves' death a suicide and closed the case, but his mother (Lois Smith) refused to believe her son took his own life, and hired Louis Simo (Adrian Brody), a private detective, to find out the truth about her son's passing. Simo found many Hollywood insiders did not care to cooperate as he researched the Reeves case, but his digging uncovered plenty of evidence suggesting the actor did not take his own life, and he also revealed one of Reeves's deepest secrets -- while he was engaged to marry a pretty young starlet, Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), Reeves was also carrying on an affair with the beautiful Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), a powerful and ill-tempered executive at MGM. While the producers of Hollywoodland based their story on factual accounts of the investigation into the death of George Reeves, they were denied permission to use the Superman logo and the familiar introduction to the Adventures of Superman television show by the respective copyright holders. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 025192027949
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Time: 2:06:00

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