Hollywoodland (**)

Hollywoodland is one half of a good movie. The half with Ben Affleck's portrayal of tv Superman George Reeves is a fascinating character study of an actor who was virtually typecast all the way into depression, drinking, and suicide. Affleck is great in the role, and really carries the film. But because the story of George Reeves isn't enough to carry a movie on its own, the filmmakers decided to include a present-day story arc with Adrian Brody investigating the circumstances surrounding Reeves' death. These present-day sequences comprise the bulk of the film and really aren't that interesting. Hollywoodland tries to posit a couple of different theories on whether Reeves killed himself or was murdered, but it seems pretty clear cut to me. I think the movie would have been better if they had used Reeves' story as a springboard and not hewn so closely to the facts. Hollywoodland is polished, professional adult moviemaking that fails to take flight.