Hollywoodland: Based on the True Story of the First Superman

This movie's description makes it sound better than it is. It is based on the true story of the first Superman, George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck), who either killed himself or was murdered on June 16, 1959. The movie alternates between flashbacks of Reeves's life and the life of the sleazy private investigator (Adrien Brody) who becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened. The investigator, Louis Simo, had received a tip that the death might not have really been a suicide, and Reeves' mother hired him to investigate further.

It might have been better if the PI angle had been axed. The movie was extremely slow-paced, and I didn't see why I should care about his rather pathetic life. The only tie-in between it and the story of the actor was that Simo's son was devastated by the death of Superman. The other details just cluttered up the story, slowed down the pace, and didn't add anything.

The story of the actor, on the other hand, was rather interesting. He has an affair with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), wife of an MGM executive. She introduces him to the right people, which helps him land the part of Superman. It wasn't the type of part he had really wanted, but of course it was really successful.

Reeves could have been depressed because the public couldn't seem to see him as anyone other the Superman. Or maybe Toni, who was devastated when Reeves started seeing a younger woman, killed him or had someone else do it for her. Another possible suspect was his fiancé.

In reality, this mystery was never solved. Therefore, the movie couldn't say what really happened either, and it just kind of peters out.

In essence, the movie was not well done. The subject matter was interesting, but the delivery was not. Affleck's performance as Reeves was very good, and if we'd seen more of him and a whole lot less of the detective, it would have been a lot better. Other than Affleck, the best thing about the movie was the background music - slow, haunting, jazzy music, very nice.