one of the greatest movies ever made

Rating: 9/10 (17 July 2005)

It's unusual. The critical consensus on the films of Tim Burton seems to always reach a level of love-it-or-hate-it polarization, and with a few exceptions, I don't necessarily consider myself a fan of his work (his films are artistically brilliant, but usually in service to half-baked screenplays), but "Ed Wood" is a film so unlike any other in his creepy-crawly back-catalog that it performs one feat of brilliance after another, fearlessly and joyfully, extremely and tragically. By taking some welcome liberties with the actual story of notoriously inept filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., Burton transforms this film (photographed in black and white, with makeup and production design that echoes the 1950s perfectly) into a documentary that exists in the alternate universe of one man's mind, while simultaneously being the most down-to-earth film he's made, with moments of staggering hilarity, tenderness, and imagination. In "Ed Wood," Burton finally has the balance of his creative, offbeat vision in conjunction with a strong script that matches it well. The polarization that marks his films makes the subject matter an ironic choice to tackle--author of "Plan 9 from Outer Space," reviled by many as the worst movie ever made, and with a penchant for dressing in drag to "feel closer" to women, Ed Wood is a character with a demeanor as unusual as Burton's, and maybe the ultimate posthumous tribute of this film is the manner in which it displays Wood's spirit, sincerity, and vision in spite of his poverty-stricken projects. Johnny Depp's performance as the never-discouraged (except when dealing with Baptist financial backers) director is carried out in a way that should render it a flaming caricature, but instead becomes something of genius; his Wood conveys a vibrancy and life that sees him through the difficult times of his relationship with aging Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau, who won a well-deserved Oscar for his performance) and girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker); when crew members complain about getting only one-hour's sleep during a grueling night shoot, Wood counters: "I got no sleep, and I feel great!" Such a mantra could be applied to Burton's execution of the film--despite its deliriously light fantasy, fiction, and occasional lapses into the surreal (even incorporating a scene where Wood has a chance encounter with his idol, Orson Welles), "Ed Wood" is driven more by character than style; it would be fair to say the two mix harmoniously to create a work of sheer brilliance and total entertainment. Though I first watched this film 10 years ago, each subsequent viewing has played as consistently as the first, and if that isn't a sign of quality in a world of paper-plate flying saucers, I don't know what is.