Truth, justice, and the American way. These are the wholesome ideals in which the Superman mythology has its roots, which must have made it doubly traumatic for fans when George Reeves, the man who played Superman on TV in the 1950s, was said to have committed suicide. Allen Coulter’s Hollywoodland takes the mystery surrounding Reeves’ death as its subject, aiming to be a stylish examination of the agony of fame but just missing the mark. It isn’t an entire failure as a film, but it definitely doesn’t achieve what it sets out to.

The film starts with Reeves’ (Ben Affleck) death, which is ruled a suicide despite some rather suspicious clues at the crime scene. Aside from the bullet in Reeves’ head, for example, there are two more in the floor. There are also mysterious bruises on his body, indicating a fight, and the fact that it took 45 minutes for the three other people in the house to call the police. There is some suggestion that Reeves’ fiancée (Robin Tunney) may have fought with him and things got out of hand but why would the police cover up for a second rate gold digger? A more likely suspect, given the strings obviously being pulled with the LAPD, is film mogul Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins) whose wife Toni (Dianne Lane) was having an affair with Reeves.

In flashbacks the film examines Reeves’ relationship with Toni, which Mannix tacitly accepts as long as it makes his wife happy (it helps that he has a mistress of his own). The relationship between Reeves and Toni is fascinating, founded on a kind of romantic play acting and held together by fears about aging. In their first scenes, their conversations play out as if they’re reciting dialogue from movies that they’ve seen; they’re both playing the role of the witty, urbane charmer. As their relationship progresses they become more relaxed with each other, more real, but that opens the gate to their mutual insecurities. Both are obsessed with ageing. Toni bankrolls Reeves’ lifestyle because she fears that once the bloom is finally off the rose, there will be nothing else to keep him around. Reeves’ is constantly worried about his ability to maintain some semblance of a career and is sensitive to the fact that he’s essentially being kept by a woman.

When the film focuses on Reeves and Toni - played well by Affleck and Lane even though they do occasionally adopt strange affectations – it becomes something really interesting, an examination of the all too brief shelf-life of people in a setting as looks- conscious as Hollywood. The pain that Reeves and Toni both feel around their fading looks is often touching and provides Hollywoodland with its most resonant moments. Unfortunately the film doesn’t seem to know what it has with these two characters and continuously abandons them to focus instead on characters who are far less interesting.

The protagonist of the story is actually Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a down and out private investigator hired by Reeves’ mother to prove that he didn’t commit suicide. Though Louis eventually comes to care a great deal about uncovering the truth, at first he’s primarily interested in getting his face in the paper and openly courts the tabloid press every step of his investigation. In addition to this, the film also gives him a subplot involving his ex-wife and son, who has been acting out ever since word of Reeves’ suicide became public. The film devotes a lot of time to Simo and his various personal problems (which also includes an unfaithful girlfriend and a betrayal by a former investigative partner), but somehow never really gets anywhere with anything involving that character. None of this is Brody’s fault - he delivers a solid enough performance - it’s more that the character is never allowed to take on much dimension despite the multiple issues that the screenplay provides for him.

In the final analysis, Hollywoodland is a film with an interesting premise and individual scenes that work very well, but that ultimately lacks a clear and effective focus. Too much time is wasted on the wrong characters and when you consider how good the film is in the flashbacks that deal with the relationship between Reeves and Toni, you begin to realize that the story is ultimately over plotted. It doesn’t know its own strengths and ends up burying them under elements that are far weaker. It is a film that succeeds in some respects, but the pieces of are ultimately fighting against each other rather than working together.

Watch a trailer for the film here: