This could have been an interesting film. The basic story of the Wonderland killings was symbolic of the coke-laden late seventies/early eighties in Los Angeles. John Belushi overdosed in March of '82, also in the Hollywood Hills. Robert Evans' career came crashing down because of drug abuse. The bodies were piling up everywhere back then as the good times of the sixties and seventies came crashing to an end.
But the central characters telling this story in flashback are seriously flawed. Val Kilmer's performance is all on the surface, the mumbling drug addict, the charming bad boy whose claim to fame was a large penis. You don't get so much as a hint of what's going on inside him at any point in the film. His character is completely out of control and there's nothing appealing about him for the viewer to associate with.
Dylan McDermott is unconvincing as the biker who managed to be out of town when his friends were all killed. He should have grown his own beard instead of relying on wardrobe to provide him with one because it looks really fake. Eric Begosian is ridiculous as Eddie Nash, the drug dealer who allegedly had the Wonderland people killed. His performance was like out of a bad episode of "Miami Vice." Kate Bosworth and Lisa Kudrow are wasted in completely unsympathetic roles.
The soundtrack of music from the era is very good and helps save the film somewhat. That and the basic story are all that hold this movie together so that it's at least decent entertainment. But someone should tell Val Kilmer he needs to learn some focus in his parts - he's become progressively sloppier as the years go by.
But the central characters telling this story in flashback are seriously flawed. Val Kilmer's performance is all on the surface, the mumbling drug addict, the charming bad boy whose claim to fame was a large penis. You don't get so much as a hint of what's going on inside him at any point in the film. His character is completely out of control and there's nothing appealing about him for the viewer to associate with.
Dylan McDermott is unconvincing as the biker who managed to be out of town when his friends were all killed. He should have grown his own beard instead of relying on wardrobe to provide him with one because it looks really fake. Eric Begosian is ridiculous as Eddie Nash, the drug dealer who allegedly had the Wonderland people killed. His performance was like out of a bad episode of "Miami Vice." Kate Bosworth and Lisa Kudrow are wasted in completely unsympathetic roles.
The soundtrack of music from the era is very good and helps save the film somewhat. That and the basic story are all that hold this movie together so that it's at least decent entertainment. But someone should tell Val Kilmer he needs to learn some focus in his parts - he's become progressively sloppier as the years go by.