An odd but touching couple

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2020)

I'm usually not a fan of films that celebrate incompetence and I don't think I'd like Ed Wood's actual films, but this movie about him was very well made and quite entertaining. Johnny Depp is brilliant as the "worst director of all time," and Martin Landau gives us a very touching portrait of Bela Lugosi in his final years, relegated to bad movies and addicted to drugs. This odd couple's chemistry together is special, and there is a charm to Wood assembling a cast out of other misfits and people he happens upon. The fact that he was openly a transvestite and explains that this doesn't equate to homosexuality was a great thing for 1994.
Burton made a great decision by using black and white, and he keeps this thing moving along with a pace that matches Wood's frenetic style. I think he probably glamorizes Wood a little bit, maybe because he was a fan and saw a parallel to himself, but it's not overdone. Contrast Wood's enthusiasm with one of the low-budget producers he runs across early on, who says "I make crap" and simply wants to make money - there are real comments about the motion picture business in all the fun and celebration of cult films. That rises to a crescendo when Orson Welles (Vincent D'Onofrio) improbably tells Wood "Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams?" I would be more inspired if it was the story of someone with more talent, but I was touched by the man's optimism and spirit nonetheless.