a touching, hilarious romp through the weirdness of Hollywood film-making

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 1999)

The late Edward D. Wood, Jr. is (in)famous as one of the worst directors in film history. His repertoire includes Glen or Glenda, his paean for understanding for transvestites; Bride of the Monster, a mad scientist attempts to creates a race of supermen to take over the world; and his magnum opus, Plan 9 From Outer Space, wherein effete grave robbers from space invade Earth. Ed Wood was the Eddie the Eagle of Hollywood--he loved making movies, but didn't have an ounce of talent in his body. Tim Burton directs this loving portrait of the ups (such as they were) and downs of the career of Ed Wood. I loved this movie. I'd loved every frame of this movie. Photographed in glorious black and white, the movie looks absolutely exquisite and gorgeous. (Do not let Ted Turner in the same room as this movie!) The cast is marvellous. Johnny Depp brings out Wood's eternal optimism without playing him for a moronic simpleton who likes wearing his wife's clothes ("You think it's the worst film ever made? Well, my next one will be even better!" -- "Yes, I like sex with girls. Wearing their clothes just makes me feel closer to them."), and Martin Landau is spellbinding as the tragic Bela Lugosi, the nearly forgotten star who befriends Wood and acts (if one can use that word) in Wood's movies, while his drug abused body is quickly failing him. The supporting cast is stellar, too, particularly Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge, Wood's friend and occasional co-star. It would have been very easy for Burton and company to play Wood as a no-talent idiot. Wood was not an idiot. Indeed, one gets the impression that Wood would have excelled at the "deal-making" aspect of Hollywood (just don't let him near the camera). Instead, Burton gives us a touching, hilarious romp through the weirdness of Hollywood film-making, delivering a loving homage to 50s B-movies, and an uplifting tribute to the human spirit. The final irony of all this is that the movie's moral is not to compromise your artistic vision, which, to his credit, is one thing Ed Wood did not do. He fought hard to bring to the screen what he thought were glorious masterpieces, and his vision, as faulty as it was, must have some enduring, and endearing, quality to it, because, here we are, forty years later, still discussing, dissecting, and, yes, even enjoying the films of Ed Wood.