It's becoming a classic

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2009)

It's hard to believe 'Ed Wood' was released 15 years ago. It went on to my instant favorites list the first time I watched it and seems as fresh and brilliant now as it did way back when.
It was an inspired idea for a Tim Burton film and it is about as close to perfection as a film from Hollywood can get. The casting is beyond criticism, Howard Shore's musical score is one of his very best, full of memorable moments and catchy tunes (especially the opening credits with the bongos), the costumes and makeup, camera work, the whole ball of wax is beautifully conceived and executed. The f/x are great because they are just as seedy and ridiculous as Ed Wood's on when he filmed 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', paper plates as flying saucers, school room teachers' desks for control consoles within the space ships, stewardess uniform for the female E.T., rubber octopuses etc. It is all very funny.
Ed Wood's cross dressing does not come off as eye-rolling ridiculous, it too is very funny. Ed, played by the ever-wonderful Johnny Depp, is a fundamentally kind man, full of ambitions and drive to succeed against horrendous odds, his biggest obstacle being his own lack of talent. But now he is a Hollywood immortal, along with Vampira, played by the marvelous Lisa Marie, and, of course, Bela Legosi at the very trashed-out end of his long career; an astonishing, moving and often hilarious performance by Martin Landau.
Bill Murray and Jeffrey Jones add to the extremely funny cast of main characters. Patricia Arquette and Sarah Jessica Parker are Ed's two girlfriends, Arquette playing his eventual wife, Kathy, a lovely performance, the one quiet and relatively sane person in the entire movie.
This is not just a very sophisticated adult comedy it is also recommendable to kids who are old enough to have developed a sense of humor, though the cross- dressing angle may cause some parents to give pause before allowing their 12 year old boys watch it. And the drug-rehab scene with Bela Lugosi is intense, but perhaps a good object lesson for youngsters who may be thinking shooting up heroin might be cool.
I think 'Ed Wood' is Burton's best movie, so far.