Style over substance

Rating: 1/10 (24 December 2001)

Without a doubt this was the worst movie I've seen all year. David
Lynch may have showed promise in his first film "Eraserhead" and
his feature debut "Blue Velvet". However, since then, he has failed
to create anything memorable or interesting. Like "Lost Highway",
Mulholland Drive" fetishizes style and comes off as one big bore.
The acting is the worst I've seen in a major film this year (with the
exception of the blonde's acting scenes), the scenes are so
contrived as to be laughable, and the plot is paper thin.

Yes, contrary to many reviews, the film does have a plot, and when
you take away all the style, you see that it is one that has been tried
many times before & to much better effect. "Memento" is a far
better play on time and loss of memory, and is much cleverer in its
portrayal of these themes. "The Man Who Wasn't There" succeeds
in capturing the feel of earlier noir, while adding a contemporary
twist and is a far superior film to boot. Because the acting is
wooden, scenes are completely random & little beyond the plot
that isn't trite or cliche, "Mulholland Drive" has no tension,
suspense or really anything to grip the viewers attention outside of
slick set designs (which aren't really that slick anyway) and so it
can not really be considered film noir. Finally, "Heavenly
Creatures" is a much more competent portrait of love evolving
between 2 girls, who at the same time build their own idiosyncratic
world around them.
As in all of his other movies except The Straight Story, David Lynch
tries to masquerade the fact that the film has little substance and
no inherent worth by screwing around with the narrative &
characters. This device may have been interesting earlier in his
career, but by now it has become one big fat bore. I found myself
yawning through most of the movie and would have walked out
after half an hour, had I gone alone.
Others have claimed that the movie captures LA, both the town and
the movie industry, but I found that it did neither. It's attempt at
satire was so obvious that its barbs against the biz really had no
bite, but were really just one more tired cliche.
If you really want to see creepiness on film, there are much better
choices. Cronenberg is a far superior film maker to David Lynch
and any of his films (except for Crash) would be far better choices
than this tired mess. If you are into noir, on the other hand, you
should really check out "The Man Who Wasn't There". Save your $
and don't bother with this one.