[10]

I doubt Tim Burton will ever make a finer film. Armed with a powerhouse screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs Larry Flynt), Burton turns the biography of Hollywood’s most infamously bad director into a poignant and hilarious film about never giving up… no matter how much you might suck. The film is admittedly white-washed, concentrating and embellishing upon Ed Wood’s relationship with Dracula star Bela Lugosi, and the making of now-infamous films like Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 from Outer Space. It skips over Wood’s later, seedier years. But who cares? This is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, chock full of witty one-liners and winning performances.

Johnny Depp colors his title performance with a believable sense of naivete and inexplicable courage, necessary ingredients for getting an audience to empathize with a transvestite hack who thinks he’s the next Orson Wells. Martin Landau shines in his Oscar-winning characterization of Lugosi, balancing tender moments of fear and insecurity with joyous, over-the-top moments. I especially love when Wood asks Lugosi to jump into a makeshift pool and pretend an inflatable octopus is killing him. And then there’s Bill Murray as the effette Bunny Breckinridge. At one point, Wood has his ragtag team of misfits and losers get baptized in order to secure financing. When the preacher asks Bunny, “Do you renounce Satan and all his evils,” Murray concentrates all his incredulity into one of the most beautifully tossed aside lines in the film: “Sure.”

It’s hard for me to go five minutes without laughing out loud at Ed Wood. Adding to the film’s cinematic appeal are its gorgeous black & white cinematography by Stefan Czapsky and quirky music score by Howard Shore. With Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Juliet Landau, Lisa Marie, and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau), Best Makeup (Rick Baker)