Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

34 10,000 B.C.
55 Baby Mama
62 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
36 College Road Trip
xx Dark Knight, The
31 Deception
41 Drillbit Taylor
57 Forbidden Kingdom, The
67 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
54 Get Smart
49 Hancock
34 Happening, The
57 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
xx Hellboy II: The Golden Army
71 Horton Hears a Who!
61 Incredible Hulk, The
65 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
79 Iron Man
35 Jumper
73 Kung Fu Panda
24 Love Guru, The
37 Made of Honor
xx Mamma Mia!
58 Mist, The
48 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
55 Nim's Island
22 Postal
69 Redbelt
44 Ruins, The
53 Sex and the City: The Movie
76 Shine a Light
37 Shutter
37 Speed Racer
61 Stop Loss
47 Strangers, The
55 Street Kings
33 Superhero Movie
93 WALL-E
64 Wanted
36 What Happens in Vegas...
54 You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

83 Alexandra
80 Band's Visit, The
76 Beauty in Trouble
47 Bella
80 Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
59 Blind Mountain
55 Bra Boys
60 Brick Lane
70 Caramel
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
83 Chop Shop
83 Chris & Don. A Love Story
78 Counterfeiters, The
52 Diminished Capacity
64 Dreams with Sharp Teeth
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
84 Edge of Heaven, The
52 Elsa & Fred
79 Encounters at the End of the World
62 Expired
64 Fall, The
51 Finding Amanda
57 Flawless
86 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
63 Foot Fist Way, The
60 Fugitive Pieces
45 Full Grown Men
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
69 Go-Getter, The
74 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
63 Gunnin for that #1 Spot
68 Heartbeat Detector
34 Holding Trevor
68 Honeydripper
55 Irina Palm
69 Jellyfish
60 Jihad for Love, A
68 Kabluey
62 Kiss the Bride
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
82 Last Mistress, The
38 Life Before Her Eyes, The
70 Love Songs
64 Married Life
30 Meet Bill
33 Miss Conception
53 Mister Lonely
75 Mongol
52 Mother of Tears, The
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
84 My Winnipeg
61 On the Rumba River
69 Operation Filmmaker
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
72 Priceless
51 Promotion, The
55 Quid Pro Quo
29 Red Roses and Petrol
79 Reprise
71 Roman de gare
56 Sangre de mi sangre
51 Savage Grace
76 Shotgun Stories
66 Son of Rambow
70 Standard Operating Procedure
62 Stuck
72 Surfwise
81 Tell No One
56 Then She Found Me
xx Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
71 To the Limit
54 Tracey Fragments, The
70 Trumbo
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
56 Unknown Woman
86 Up the Yangtze
79 Visitor, The
62 Wackness, The
37 War, Inc.
64 Water Lilies
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?
55 Without the King
72 Woman on the Beach
64 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Hollywoodland
Focus Features


5.6

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 46 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language, some violence and sexual content

Starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, Bob Hoskins, Robin Tunney, Joe Spano, Molly Parker, Dash Mihok, Brad William Henke, and Walter Rinaldi

Hollywoodland is a uniquely compelling exploration of fame and identity, inspired by one of Hollywood's most infamous real-life mysteries. (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Mystery \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Paul Bernbaum
DIRECTED BY:	Allen Coulter
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 6, 2007 Theatrical: September 8, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	126 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Golden Lion, 2006 Venice Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The period details and performances are uniformly superb (Bob Hoskins is especially good as MGM executive Eddie Mannix), and the major characters are even more complex than those in "Chinatown."

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

With an uncredited assist from playwright/screenwriter Howard Korder, Hollywoodland features some tart, lively banter and welcome comedic touches.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It packs surprising punch as a biopic.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The chief frustration of this otherwise well-made, well-acted, well-heeled picture -- a movie classy in its artful modesty, with every detail of plot and period furnishings lovingly conceived, every lick of jazz-influenced score true to the times -- is that it is so very self-absorbedly graceful about something so very insular and...unremarkable.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

While Coulter and company try gamely to forge two powerful stories, they manage, finally, about one-and-a-half -- which is a lot more than most films, and for which moviegoers should be grateful.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Hollywoodland is one of the nicest surprises of the late summer lull between blockbuster seasons, a smart period mystery--cum--character study--cum--bitter parable on the lures and liabilities of life in its titular locale.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The title refers to the giant promotional sign for the Hollywoodland real-estate development that once loomed on the side of Mt. Cahuenga. Shorn of its last four letters 10 years before Reeves' death, it survives as the iconic Hollywood sign.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Coulter is a TV veteran but a motion picture newcomer. His work here indicates he is someone to watch. The pacing is slow and deliberate, but the story never ceases to intrigue.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The irony is that Affleck's battering at the hands of fame has prepped him beautifully to play Reeves.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Props then to Affleck. Coulter contrived a neat behavioral trick by inducing his star to play a comparably big-jawed bad actor. Surrounded as he is by canny professionals--Lane, Hoskins, Smith, and Jeffrey DeMunn as an unctuous glad-handing agent--it's an unexpectedly touching performance.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Features an excellent cast all of whom shine. Affleck as Reeves has never seemed more charming and Brody’s Louis Simo is pretty much a scumbag who still manages to gain our empathy.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

This film is brave enough to admit that not all failed movie careers are the result of evil corporate suits, and Affleck makes us care that this likable but weak-minded man threw away what was solid and good in his life for the chimera of fame.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Like Affleck's performance, Hollywoodland has its affecting moments. But generally it feels like an HBO original movie, where respectable but uninspired execution mars a fascinating subject and great cast.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This summer has given us two Supermen to choose from in our own distemperate times: "Superman Returns" was for the starry-eyed idealists, Hollywoodland is for the bleary-eyed cynics.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Hollywoodland explores an intriguing bit of Hollywood history, and through the strength of its performances keeps us engaged and entertained.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

It's a bit of a hodgepodge - unnecessarily complicated, clumsily structured, uncertainly directed and, as a whodunit, ultimately unsatisfying.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Lane, perhaps the most underrated actress of those deemed employable in their 40s, wonderfully embodies the mogul's wife.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A whodunit, a whydunit, and an excuse for Adrien Brody to mug it up like nobody's business.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

And though brilliantly acted, it's not. For some reason, the director and the writer (Paul Bernbaum) have chosen an exceedingly awkward path into the materials. They break the narrative into two strands and play them off each other in cheap and easy ways for insubstantial effect.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This overly derivative motion picture thinks it is doing and saying more than it is. Instead, it ends up as little more than a reasonable facsimile of the real thing, despite a subtle and effective performance by Ben Affleck, of all people.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Ultimately falls short of reaching the pleasingly pulpy heights of an "L.A. Confidential" or a "Chinatown" despite those obvious aspirations.

Variety Todd McCarthy

First-time scripter Paul Bernbaum's framing story, designed to stir up suspicion that George Reeves was a murder victim rather than a suicide, unfortunately proves far less intriguing than does the melancholy tale of a limited actor reaching the end of the line during a transitional period in Hollywood.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Thanks to Lane, Hollywoodland, no great shakes as a thriller, becomes a quiet horror story about the monstrosity of time.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Even though Brody works hard -- and he's got those magnificent drooping eyes, which suggest both innocence and a seen-it-all-before weariness -- his scenes don't spark, and the movie drags around them.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A film not nearly as intriguing as it should have been, centering on a death that isn't nearly as intricately fascinating as the filmmakers think. Exacerbating the problem is a cast of actors who seem too self-consciously playacting.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This movie might have been better if it hadn't fashioned itself as a cross between "Citizen Kane" and "Chinatown," and instead had used Reeves's story to dramatize the transitional state of 1950s Hollywood.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Ben Affleck has packed on the pounds, slipped on some tights and given this exasperating film far more than it gives in return.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The window Hollywoodland offers into old-style workings of the company town is fascinating to behold, however the film doesn't always know where to direct our gaze.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Hollywoodland has scraps of old movie glamour. It also has shades of later movies that sullied all that class and refinement with a lurid touch, namely Roman Polanski's "Chinatown." But that's all Hollywoodland is: scraps and shade.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The film, actually, is a little like Reeves himself: It starts promisingly and trails off into indistinctness and mystery.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Ends up as colorless as Reeves' first Superman suit.

New York Post Kyle Smith

They'll say that this year's two Superman pictures could not be more different, but they'll be wrong: Like "Superman Returns," Hollywoodland is laden with atmosphere but moves like it has lead in its tights.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Reeves had an easy but peppy presence that was very likable, and Affleck's moroseness doesn't do him justice...and it doesn't help that Adrien Brody--as the film's other protagonist, a burnt-out gumshoe--is more actorish than the supposed actor.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lewis P. gave it a4:
The problem with 'Hollywoodland' is that the film's protagonist (played by Adrian Brody) is not involved in solving the central question posed by the film. Brody's private investigator's ordeal occurs when he tries to take his 7 year old son out for a little get-together while he's drunk without his estranged wife's permission. After the Act 2 ordeal, he subsequently experiences an epiphany and at the end of the flick we presume he'll be back in his son's good graces (and also feels good about himself to boot). Unfortunately for us he's never involved in solving the film's central question--did George Reeves commit suicide or was he murdered? Maybe this is a film that shouldn't have been made at all since questions about Reeve's death remain unanswered to this day. I'm not sure why people see Reeves as a failed actor. To my mind he was a better Superman than any actor who came after him. It's just unfortunate that there simply aren't that many good scripts out there for good actors. Ben Affleck was better playing Reeves' 'darker' side but didn't really capture his charm or sense of humor. The female actors were much better in this flick. Ultimately, the film lacked suspense and probably could have dispensed with the whole Brody story line (a sub-plot masquerading as the major plot).

Sam gave it a7:
Great performances, especially from Diane Lane, and a Clue-like way to present the various theories raise this above the average, now-abundant, "unsolved murder" movie frenzy that has been taking over the big screen lately.

Alfonso M. gave it an8:
It was a great picture. The cinematography is top notch as well as costumes and the editing, a nice surprise

Dizzle Brizzle gave it a4:
The character study of George Reeves, his sad life, and his even sadder death, was the highlight of this film. It is a shame most of the film focused on the mundane story of Adrien Brody's character. It was one of those films where you ask yourself, "who cares?" when the credits roll.

Mark B. gave it a6:
There are very good reasons why Orson Welles made Jerry Thompson a shadowy, almost faceless figure in Citizen Kane. Thompson was the reporter who was researching the life and death of magnate Charles Foster Kane, and though well played by William Alland under the circumstances, was wisely relegated to being a visually peripheral figure as Welles rightly focused the movie on Kane and the people in his orbit. Would that Hollywoodland's writer (Paul Bernbaum) and director (Allen Coulter) had watched and studied Citizen Kane just one more time! Their subject matter--the life and death of TV actor George Reeves and whether the latter really was a suicide or a murder--is fascinating, and so are many of its observations on show business and popular culture in the 1950s. It's especially poignant to watch the reaction of American children who faithfully watched and worshipped Reeves as Superman when they learn that he died in such a shocking and ignominious manner; compare their response to that of today's infinitely more sophisticated and jaded kids (who, if they watched Reeves' famously cheesy TV series at all would laugh it off the same way we adults would smirk at any movie directed by Edward D. Wood) and you really do have occasion to wonder whether or not technological leaps have hardened us as human beings. And even though struggling actor Reeves took the Superman role with great reluctance knowing that he'd almost surely be typecast, it's important to remember that 99% of all potential actors, then as now, don't get anywhere near even Reeves' measure of recognition and success and maybe to ask whether Reeves would've been infinitely happier and better off if he'd simply been more grateful for the success he had. (The more recent example of Gilligan's Island comes to mind; cast members Russell Johnson, Dawn Wells and the late Bob Denver embraced and eventually profited from their identification with their roles while Tina Louise lived a life of frustration trying to live hers down.) Ben Affleck, a fine actor whose own career has been marred by a few too many unfortunate choices and a couple of notorious tabloid romances that overshadowed his work, is nevertheless highly underrated, as repeat viewings of Changing Lanes and Chasing Amy will prove; his obvious identification with Reeve makes this a true career performance. Diane Lane, as an aging Hollywood producer's trophy wife with whom Reeves has a rejuvenating affair with, is so astonishingly lovely that she could singlehandedly reverse Hollywood's shameful treatment of actresses who reach a certain age and start a "Don't Trust Anyone UNDER 30!" trend, and Bob Hoskins is effectively both hearty and menacing as her husband. For these reasons all the Reeves stuff works, but unfortunately there just isn't enough of it; the majority of the movie is a framing device in which a sleazy Tinseltown detective (Adrien Brody, whose idea of characterization here is to smack his gum loudly, as though rudeness equals depth) learns all sorts of Life Lessons as he learns more and more about Reeves. We in turn learn far too much about the gumshoe's family life, his affairs, his other clients, and so on, as three little words burrow further and further into our brain and find permanent residence there: WE. DON'T. CARE. What a shame that one-third of this movie, one of the most cogent and intelligent Hollywood self-examinations in recent years thanks largely to Affleck's gritty, Oscar-worthy performance, is buried beneath the other two-thirds, which constitutes a glorified, ultraextended popcorn-and-bathroom break.

JP P. gave it a5:
At first glance, the trailers for 'Hollywoodland' make the film out to be a seemingly compelling murder story. Upon actually seeing it though you'll soon realize, after about the first twenty minutes, it's merely a sub par one. Once it begins you're in for an almost dismal ride that ends up going nowhere. One of its issues is that all the "likely" murder scenarios lack any evidence. The only thing that even holds each person as a suspect is some sort of motive, which only adds to the film's already stagnant disposition. Next you have the ghastly performance given by Affleck. The fact he plays Reeves is ironic in a sad way. Here we have a mediocre actor playing a mediocre actor who hates himself because he's viewed by the public as a joke. The only difference is Affleck has yet to come to the realization that he himself is also a joke. Yes, I will give him some credit, there are a couple of split seconds where he actually does really well, but its nothing really worth mentioning. As for Brody, all I'll say is he's okay. He's not great, he's not lousy, just plainly okay. Its Lane that truly shines here. She does an absolutely amazing job with her role as the emotionally unstable Toni Mannix. I hope when Oscar time comes around she gets a nod. Sadly, all the other members of the cast present only ordinary performances. I'm disappointed in the way 'Hollywoodland' turned out. I believed it was going to be really good, and all it ended up being was just fair. I suppose I shouldn't have had such high expectations for a film that's director, Allen Coulter, had only done TV shows up until this point. I will admit, it's not all bad. The style and retro visuals were nice, but all in all, the only thing offered is an outstanding performance from Diane Lane. Much like the story told in the film, 'Hollywoodland' is nothing more than a film filled with all glitz and no glamour.

Robert xxx gave it a4:
Brody is so miscast that it sinks the whole film.

Hollywoodland Focus Features

Hollywoodland
Focus Features