The Black Dahlia
January 21st, 2007
Atrocious. If we’d seen it in time, this movie would have been assured one of the top spots on the list of worst movies of 2006. It’s not just that Scarlett Johannson and Josh Hartnett are fatally miscast–nobody here is pulling off the 40s tough guy/dame thing. Hillary Swank does a mediocre Kate Hepburn impersonation, Aaron Eckhard flounders, and Scarlett certainly ain’t Lauren Bacall. It’s like watching Brick–or Bugsy Malone–except that nobody bothered to clue in the actors. The only scenes that aren’t flat-out laughable are the black-and-white bits with Mia Kirshner.
The Black Dahlia. Brian De Palma, 2006. *
- Rotten Tomatoes: 36%
- Matt Zoller Seitz finds plenty to admire
[tags]noir, thriller, murder, brian de palma, prostitution, cops, los angeles, film, 1 star, hillary swank, katherine hepburn, aaron eckhard, scarlett johannson, lauren bacall, josh hartnett, james ellroy, mia kirshner[/tags]
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed by this. The Mia Kirshner stuff was good, and I thought Hillary Swank worked, but everyone else just lacked the depth needed to play these characters. I thought Scarlett was wonderful in Lost in Translation and Ghost World, but ever since she’s been stumbling through these period roles that don’t really work. And Hartnett’s only good performance so far is in The Virgin Suicides. So, maybe they both just need Sofia Coppola.