Ingenious comedy with memorable characters

Rating: 9/10 (26 August 2001)

I'll confess that though I'm familiar with Ed Wood's body of work, I've never actually seen one of his films. Tim Burton's portrayal of a man who truly loves the movies and is living his dream almost makes me want to watch Plan 9....
This is a great movie, though. The acting is superb all around, and while there are not a lot of big laughs in the film, the movie oozes warm, good-natured humor. How can you not love the always chipper Ed Wood (played by Johnny Depp) or sympathize with the washed-up, but once great Bela Lugosi (played by Martin Landau, who won an oscar)?
The only flaw in the movie is that things seem to come togther a little too neatly. For example, there is a scene where Ed is eating at a restaurant with his new wife (or is she still his girlfriend then?). In walks her chiropractor who moments later gets the role as body-double for Bela. Somehow, I don't think events worked so quickly and neatly in real life. Still, the movie is a comedy, not an informative (though it often is) documentary on Ed Wood. It almost seems fitting that events in his life come together with unbelievable ease, since most of his movies operated the same way (or so it seems). If Ed wood were to make a movie of his life, I don't think he spend an hour introducing the chiropractor and setting up his meeting with the young director.
I give it a 9/10 and a strong recommendation.