"Ed Wood" Kind of Confusing

     I don't get it. I am by all accounts, the equivalent of a movie normie. I don't mind a good time, and don't need something super pretentious to enjoy it/rate it highly. That's not to say I find this film pretentious, it's just I don't get why it's rated so highly. All I came into this film with was that it would be about some director, Tim Burton directed it (whose movies I generally like), and my friend CJ loved it so much to give it a perfect rating, that's it. So why do people love this movie? I saw someone say afterwards that this movie is so beloved because it's filmed in a way Ed Wood would have done his own films, and from what I can gather he's supposed to be a director that's so bad his movies are good. Let's talk about it.

    I think part of the reason I didn't like this film as much as I thought I would is that it just kind of meanders around. Perhaps this is meant to emulate how "strong" (or weak I suppose) Ed Wood films were in terms of plot, but for a viewer who came in knowing nothing, it was alright. It mostly just follows Ed around as he continues to make movies, trying to build a name for himself. But that's the issue, it literally jumps around really abruptly. You can tell Ed Wood really loves making movies, and has a deep respect and admiration for Bela Lugosi, but other than that it's kind of hard to say much about him. I was just not interested in Ed Wood as a character.

    Ed's characterization isn't the only thing that suffers from this. What little plot there is just leaves you wondering huh? You'll see Ed finish wrapping up filming on a movie, then attend the premiere, and randomly have him and his crew relentlessly attacked by the audience, and I just couldn't tell why? Did they just assume it was bad I'm not sure. There's really no build up to anything either. Like you have Ed abruptly deciding at the last minute to ignore the Baptists, because it's important his final film with footage of Lugosi gets made in his honour. Then they just show up to the theatre to applause. No talk about how for once people are excited, what even caused this film to become so hyped up. It's just... confusing.

    I did like Bela Lugosi and Martin Landau's performance as his though. He's basically one of the only characters to get screentime and have much of an arc, being this washed up, drug-addled actor who has nothing left to live for. Sort of becoming this ladder for the only person left in the world who really cares about him, Ed Wood. Them him going to rehab and such. I'm not saying he should have definitely won the Oscar for the performance considering Samuel L. Jackson was very good in Pulp Fiction, but he was the highlight of the movie for me.

Final Score: 50/100

    I know I basically ass blasted this entire film during my review but it wasn't that bad. It's just kind of odd is the best way to describe it. It's a little bit novel to watch it for the first time, especially considering I don't know many movies filmed in the "modern era" that willingly choose to go black and white. I thought it did give the film a distinct character to it that was the right choice. I also did think some of the scenes could be humorous at times even if I'm still pretty disappointed in the film overall. It just kind of exists. Perhaps if I loved movies as much as Ed Wood I would have enjoyed this one.