D.C. MOVIE GUYS

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BLACK DAHLIA

In Hollywood, consistency of effort is often an illusion. A director who turns out a great film one year can’t always repeat the same trick the next year. Even with a strong cast of talented actors and a well written script, the movie can go off track, taking the director’s career with it. As Brian DePalma shows in his adaptation of James Elroy’s novel “The Black Dahlia,” opening this weekend, there’s good DePalma and bad DePalma. This film, sadly, represents the latter.

Set in the post-World War II Los Angeles of 1947, the film centers on the unusual friendship of two L.A. P.D. detectives, “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart.) The duo, both former boxers, become symbols for the expanding police force when they;re matched in a boxing exhibition that helps get a police improvement bond passed. Teamed as partners on the fugitive warrant squad, they also spend plenty of off duty time together, sharing the attention of Lee’s girlfriend, Kay (Scarlett Johannson)

The partnership and triangular relationship are both threatened when the infamous “Black Daliah” murder is discovered. Soon, a web of lies, corruption and connections begins to enmesh the trio, forcing Bucky to choose sides as he and Lee are dragged into the Daliah investigation while also chasing a brutal fugitive and worrying about a just-paroled criminal whose out for revenge on Lee and Kaye.

If the basic outline of “Dahlia” sounds an awful lot like Elroy’s “L.A. Confidential,” you’re on the right track. The film feels very much as if it were constructed from the leftovers of that superior movie. Once again, we have a triangular relationship between the male protagonists and a woman. Once again, there are secrets aplenty poisoning everything and everyone, with official corruption oozing out of every corner. Once again, the real Los Angeles and its sordid history is used as the backdrop for a fictional story that has the feel of cynical reality.

What’s different this time ius that DePalma and screenwriter Josh Freidman are nowhere near as skilful as director Curtis Hansen and his screenwriter were on “Confidential.: “Dahlia” has the feel of a movie that was thrown together at the last minute, with little thought or care given to character or plot development. No amount of clipped, smart mouthed line delivery can cover the holes in this movie’s logic.

Unlike Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kim Bassinger, Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johannson seem far too young and callow for the world weary roles they’ve been asked to inhabit. Only Eckhart seems right for his part and he’s off screen far too much to be effective. Hillary Swank is wasted in a bizarre role as a Daliah look alike who holds a “key”, of sorts, to the confused and confusing plot.

Be aware: this film is not based on Elroy’s non-fiction examination of the “Dahlia” case, in which he named his likely killer. This movie has plenty of ambition, but too little substance to deliver on its promises.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, violence, brief nudity and sexual situations.
JOE’S RATING: ONE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

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The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, Updated & Revised (Film Critics of the New York Times)

The Film Club: A Memoir

The Art of Watching Films with Tutorial CD-ROM

Short Guide to Writing About Film, A (7th Edition)

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