It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's...

On 16 June 1959, George Reeves, the star of the TV show Adventures of Superman, was found naked in his bedroom by his party guests, with a bullet through his brain. It looked like a suicide, but various conspiracy theories have surfaced, none of which have been conclusively proven. In Hollywoodland, cut-rate private detective Adrien Brody is hired to find out the truth about his death, and in the dirt-digging process, gains self-awareness. Brody does good work here, playing a sleazy, desperate man who finally realizes how much of a scumbag he really is.

Too bad the movie shouldn't have been about him. As it is, the genuinely affecting sequences involving Ben Affleck as Reeves share screentime with Brody's thread, which upon comparison is far weaker. While it is true that both story arcs have similarities and differences that are juxtaposed against each other, it ultimately seems that Brody is the main character, since we follow him as he uncovers more about Reeves' death. When your supporting character has a more compelling arc than your main character, your movie's in trouble.

Ben Affleck may seem like a strange casting choice, since he's not known for his emotional range, but he's perfect here as Reeves. His confident swagger gradually deteriorates throughout the course of the film until there is nothing but naked desperation and despair left in his eyes. Fine supporting performances by Diane Lane as Reeves' lover Toni Mannix and Bob Hoskins as her MGM executive husband also lift Affleck's scenes far above Brody's.

As a result of the main thread being weaker, the entire movie feels overlong and honestly, I was bored for much of the time. Which is a pity, for it looks good visually and could've been great. As it is, apart from Affleck's performance, it's merely adequate. Because, really, how Reeves died isn't the main point. It's how he lived that ultimately proved far more compelling and engaging.