Didn’t mean to sound dismissive yesterday about Ben Affleck winning the Best Actor trophy at the Venice Film Festival. He does a solid job at getting into the frustration, rage and sadness of George Reeves . Reeves became world-famous as a result of his starring in the Superman TV series in the ’50s, and then hopelessly despondent about same — he became so strongly identified with Superman that he couldn’t land any other roles.
I wish that the film, which I respected and half-liked, would have had more Affleck and less of Adrien Brody , frankly. The latter plays a shamus hired by Reeves’ mother to learn whether or not her son’s shooting death was a murder made to look like a suicide. Brody’s gumshoe is not the sharpest tool in the shed; he’s vaguely motivated and a bit of a loser. The decision by director Allan Coulter to focus on his flopping around as much as it does is what makes Hollywoodland frustrating to sit through.