Wonderland (2003)

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Wonderland, which is not to be confused with Michael Winterbottom's South London tale of the same name, is supposed to be Val Kilmer's big return to the spotlight after, oh, about 10 years of making some really disappointing films. But his fans are just going to have to wait a little bit longer because Wonderland is another dud. How a film about a porn star, murder and jailbait could be rendered so tedious and uninteresting is completely beyond me.

Kilmer (Red Planet) plays porn legend John Holmes, but Wonderland doesn't focus on his career as a diggler (Boogie Nights pretty much covered that). Instead, director and co-writer James Cox tells the story of Holmes's involvement in the infamous Wonderland murders, which took place in Laurel Canyon in 1981, well after Holmes abandoned shagging for money in favor of snorting copious amounts of coke. Because the Wonderland murders are still unsolved, they're right up there with the Black Dahlia and the Zodiac Killer (but, sadly, not the Simpson-Goldman slayings) in terms of grisly yet titillating crimes.

Unfortunately, Wonderland the film isn't nearly as intriguing, despite the deep cast and E! True Hollywood Story-type subject (a la last year's equally flat Auto Focus). The entire film is essentially a he-said/he-said story - laid out like Rashomon - that theorizes the degree of Holmes's involvement in the quadruple homicide. One point of view comes from Holmes, while the other arrives via a biker dude who ran in the same circle as the people who were killed (Dylan McDermott, The Practice). Both men are scumbags, so it's hard to believe either one of them. At some point I simply stopped caring what really happened, due to a combination of being bored with the film and not being terribly upset that people this bankrupt were murdered.

Kilmer's Holmes served as a go-between for a biker gang (led by Hulk's Josh Lucas) and a Palestinian player with major political connections (Eric Bogosian, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle). At first, he's supposed to get the latter to buy four antique guns off of the former, but things get out of hand (as they usually do with antique guns - see Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). Hostilities escalate, leading to a Holmes-incited $1.2 million robbery and, eventually, the four murders.

Other than offering some slick shots of grainy black-and-white newspaper photos coming to life (and vice-versa), Cox seems to have zero vision telling a story that should be way more compelling than what we get with Wonderland. Being dark and gritty just isn't enough anymore. There are four credited screenwriters, so perhaps it's one of those Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth deals. Kilmer does a decent job as Holmes, even though he looks more like Barry Gibb, while Lisa Kudrow gets kudos for playing the wife he left to fuck strangers for cash. Kate Bosworth (The Rules of Attraction) doesn't have much of a part, but makes the most of her lean role as Holmes's teenage girlfriend.

1:44 - R for strong violence/grisly images, pervasive drug use and language, some sexuality/nudity

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1198595
X-RT-TitleID: 10002197
X-RT-SourceID: 595
X-RT-AuthorID: 1146
X-RT-RatingText: 4/10