PeachHamBeach Review of The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia (2006)

Gets a 3 for visuals and period costumery, but this movie is a bore!

[3/10 · 22 February 2014]

I don't get it. Maybe because I never read the Ellroy novel on which this is based. All I know is, I expected a movie about the short life (excuse pun) of Betty Short (Mia Kirshner who is one of my fave actresses ever) and her grisley death in Hollywood. All we get is a boring overlong bloated mess about 2 troubled cops. Boring dialogue, even more boring boxing match, and you don't even see anything of the title character until 25 mins. into the film. In short, (again with the pun) the life of Betty Short is hardly given more than a few scenes, reducing her to not much more than victim, and the emphasis on the "seedy" side of Hollywood is predictably provided with disturbing glee by director DePalma. The 4 main principal characters were completely UNinteresting, and the acting is pretty wooden overall. Sorry to say that other than Kirshner's scenes, along with some cool musical stuff by k.d. lang, this movie was as lackluster as a butterknife left in the dirt. Blech!