A Man of Conviction, If Not Talent

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

Every young movie maker thinks he can do anything and everything that has not been done already. Ed Wood is no exception, and that is why he's so special. Often considered THE worst movie director of all time, his life story would have been interesting if he had not made Play 9 From Outer Space. Tim Burton's tribute to the writer/director of the 1940s and 50s chronicles Wood's life from studio "lot boy" movie plants from one movie studio to another up to the premier of Plan 9. Along the way, we root for and feel sorry for Wood as he produces what he thinks are the ultimate pictures of all time, but we know they are turkeys. The charm of Ed Wood is how the director never questioned himself, how he always thought what he was doing was wonderful, and how everyone else got him wrong. The film features Martin Landau in an Oscar Winning Performance as the aging star of Dracula, Bela Legosi, and Bill Murray plays a make-up artist who really wants to be a woman. The real life characters that surround Wood make for almost constant comedy, and Burton's use of black and white gives us that feel of 1940s Hollywood. The background information we find in this movie gives us perspective in a man who was doing what he wanted to do in life, no matter what the results may have been.