A Classic Comedic Biopic

Rating: 10/10 (19 October 2012)

Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography entitled Ed Wood.This comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton.It features Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker in the title role. The film's story concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, and Bill Murray co-star who play key supporting roles.It was conceived by writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.
The film follows Ed Wood in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never- weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine- addicted Bela Lugosi, whom he tries to help stage a comeback.
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fete the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results.Martin Landau's unforgettable Oscar-winning performance must be seen to be believed, as must Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup. While it would have been easy to make a film simply ridiculing the bumbling director, Burton instead focuses on his driving passion for film making and his unwavering persistence in the face of ridicule and failure. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the film is the genuine sentiment with which Burton treats the relationship between Wood and Lugosi; his devotion to Lugosi is touching, as is Lugosi's final soliloquy which is an inane bit of dialogue from the hilariously bad Bride of the Monster that grows into a poignant metaphor for the actor's life and ultimate triumph of his spirit. Even the look of the film is right; it manages to preserve the air of one of Wood's own films while retaining a sense of artistry in much of the composition on screen.And added to that,it's black and white photography convincingly recaptures the look and feel of 1950's sleaze, including some of the least convincing special effects in movie history.It is a classic indeed.