Subject: REVIEW: ED WOOD

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Pidgeon)
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 15:58:45 GMT

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				  ED WOOD
		       A film review by Jeff Pidgeon
			Copyright 1994 Jeff Pidgeon

     Tim Burton's latest offering, ED WOOD, is an affectionate
one-could-say tribute to a director many consider to be the worst of
all time (my vote goes for Michael Cimino).  ED WOOD has the usual
Burton strengths and weaknesses: a thorough sense of time and place,
more interesting characters than the plot can handle, and a storyline
that seems to be mostly a daisy chain of spot gags.

     To be fair, though, the film has more story structure than any
other previous Burton effort--screenwriter Michael Lehmann figured out
a good way to trick Burton into thinking he didn't have a three-act
story while in actuality giving him what may be the closest thing he's
had to one.  The film focuses on the making of three Wood "classics,"
so no matter what else happens, the result of each production will give
a resolution of sorts.

     If ED WOOD had been a half-hour, or even an hour long, it would
have been a quirky entertaining novelty.  At two hours, though, the
gags are repeating for the third time, and one begins to wonder if
the film isn't spliced into a loop, and that you'll never get to
leave.  There's only so many times that seeing Johnny Depp in an angora
sweater can provoke any sort of reaction before you start checking your
watch.

     Tha cast's performances are stronger than most Burton outings, but
Martin Landau stands alone in giving his Lugosi portrait sufficient
weight and depth to engage you beyond the gags.  The relationship
between Depp and Landau is the strongest thing in the film, and the
film might have been better all around if this had been focused upon
more.  As it is, the film has to fall back on a "stick-to-your-artistic-
vision-kid" message (from a pretty implausible source) that rings
particularly hollow (especially from the director of BATMAN).  ED WOOD
is consistently entertaining, but wears out its welcome too
soon ... people who aren't rabid Wood fans will probably come away
wondering why Burton went to all the trouble.  Not Recommended.