The SmarK DVD Rant for Wonderland
– I am, of course, a huge fan of P.T. Anderson and his work, especially his most commercially successful film, Boogie Nights. Boogie Nights was a thinly-veiled biography of John C. Holmes, who escaped an abusive childhood and became the biggest star of the 70s, only to lose it all due to drugs and his own low self-esteem. That movie borrowed quite heavily from a self-made biography of Holmes called “Exhausted”, which was supposed to be on the DVD but was held back for legal reasons.
However, while Boogie Nights was more of a sensationalized look at the porn industry in the 70s and the rocky transition to the 80s that ended fairly upbeat, John’s actual life was much more depressing, as there was a period in the early 80s, covered by Boogie Nights with a slightly more nice version of things, which nearly cost him his life and then nearly cost him his freedom. Wonderland covers that period, and it’s like the evil opposite of Boogie Nights, in a lot of ways.
The Film
In June 1981, the LAPD discovered a gruesome scene on Wonderland Avenue, as the home of local drug dealer Ron Launius was found covered wall-to-wall in blood and the bodies of Ron and three other people were found with their skulls bashed in by lead pipes. As the police investigated the grisly site, things quickly traced back to one man: Legendary porn star John C. Holmes, he of the 14-inch penis and expensive drug habit.
Wonderland covers the period of time surrounding the murders, and tells the story from two different viewpoints: Bystander and junkie David Lind, and Holmes himself. Val Kilmer plays yet another space cadet, as by this point Holmes was in a constant state of self-medication, estranged from his wife and dating a teenaged mistress on the side. The movie itself is part biography and part police procedural, as we examine both potential motives and executions of the crime, and you quickly realize that everyone involved is probably lying to cover their own ass, and no one has any credibility.
That’s where the first problem with the movie comes in — there’s just no likable characters here and none of the star-studded cast seems particularly interested in bringing them to life. Holmes himself is a pathetic wreck, either portrayed as a cold-blooded killer out for revenge for a robbery gone bad or a strung-out junkie manipulated by those who provide his fix. Either portrayal doesn’t exactly turn him into the hero of the piece.
The other major connection to the murders comes in the form of local businessman Eddie “The Arab” Nash, played completely wrong by Eric Bogosian. Normally I love Eric, but this just wasn’t the right role for him. A better fit would have been someone like Alfred Molina, who played a parody of the real person in Boogie Nights.
The story basically goes like this: Holmes meets Ron Launius and his merry band of lowlifes at a party in 1981 and immediately charms his way into their circle, scoring drugs while hanging out with them. At some point, either he or Ron gets it into their head to use Holmes’ connection to Eddie Nash and rob him. They stage a home invasion and steal close to 1.2 million worth of drugs, jewelry and cash (the involvement of John himself varies depending on who’s telling the story here) but are so stupid that they brag about the heist to friends, and soon it gets back to Nash that these guys did the deed, and soon they’re all dead with Holmes being the only one to escape unscathed.
The movie itself follows like a combination of a documentary and a police procedural, as the movie is divided into two halves. The first one is told from the perspective of scumbag biker and killer David Lind (played by a sleepwalking Dylan McDermott), as he relates his story of a depraved John Holmes leeching drugs off his buddies and setting them up for the fall on the Nash robbery because he was too stoned to know what he was doing. The second half details things from Holmes’ end, as he relates his story of getting in tight with Eddie Nash and then having his connection taken advantage of by the depraved drug users he hung out with.
There’s also some attempts at drama by showing the strained relationship he has with his ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow, one of the few true bright spots, acting-wise), who may or may not have known what Holmes’ involvement with the crime was, and his relationship with his girlfriend, who was underage when they met and was turned into his personal hooker in order to get in tight with Nash.
I think the main problem with the movie was that I just didn’t LIKE anyone. Holmes himself is a scumbag, none of the “victims” were exactly upstanding citizens to begin with and frankly they had it coming for what they did to Nash, his ex-wife was a nagging prude, his girlfriend was an idiot who took abuse after abuse from him and kept coming back because she was too young to know better, and Nash was an arrogant prick who frankly deserved to get robbed because he was stoned all the time. Now, there have been some great movies where you can’t identify or sympathize with anyone, but in those cases it’s up to the filmmakers to compensate with a really good story or moving human drama. There’s just none of that here — the point of the story here is that it’s impossible to really know who was responsible for the crimes, so we’re left with a bunch of speculation and completely incredible (as in “not credible”) testimony from the only people who could know for sure what happened. Normally in a case like that you’d tell the story from the viewpoint of the cops, and frankly I don’t know why the focus was put on Holmes instead.
That’s not to say this was a BAD movie. I’d call it more misguided, as there’s a very interesting story and some very interesting characters buried in here, but the telling is flawed and the acting is less than inspired. Hell, you had Janeane Garofolo playing a JUNKIE and she gets like 2 minutes of screen time! That’s GOLD if played right. However, much of the movie is just so bleak and humorless that you can’t get to know anyone enough to care about them. Another problem I had was the editing, as much of the story is presented in flashback, but things will jump around with no warning or real way to distinguish when something is happening in comparison to other things. And whoever did the cinematography is obviously suffering from a hangover or something, as everything is shot very dark, to the point where you can’t actually see what’s going on during the parts where the murders are going on. Now, that might be a stylistic choice, but if so, it’s a retarded one. I’m sorry, but I like to SEE what’s going on during climactic moments, I’m just funny that way.
Really, the main problem with the whole thing is that for some reason it just assumes you know who John Holmes was, and that you remember what the Wonderland murders were. For those people, I’m sure this would be fascinating stuff, but as a primer for what actually happened, it’s just an uninteresting mess. And keep in mind that this is the story of a former porn star with a 14-inch penis who dealt drugs on the side and got wrapped up in a famous quadruple homicide with no witnesses in a busy neighborhood. How you can screw THAT up is beyond me, but here it is.
Basically, I guess I’m saying that if you want a better telling of essentially the same story (albeit with a happier ending), check out the vastly superior Boogie Nights, which also has a better soundtrack.
The Video
As mentioned, either by choice or because of the transfer, this is a very dark movie. It’s presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and technically the transfer is fine, as there don’t seem to be any compression problems even with all the reds and blacks involved.
The Audio
A typical low-end Dolby 5.1 mix, as the dialogue is REALLY quiet, and then suddenly you’ll get some 70s hard rock song that kicks in and blows out the speakers. I hate that. Not really a surround-intensive movie to begin with, much of the surround usage is from the music, and otherwise it’s all up front. This could have used a little less dynamic range, but everything is clear once you crank up the volume loud enough to actually hear them.
The Extras
Now here’s where the DVD sets proves to eclipse the movie itself. It’s a two-disc set, and on the first disc you get
– A commentary with the writer and director.
– 15 minutes of deleted scenes, most of which are the rare case where you actually understand some plot points better WITH them (like the scene between Eddie Nash and Holmes’ girlfriend) and they flesh out stuff left out by the editor. They should not have been removed, and I have no idea why they were.
– The original crime scene video shot by LA Police. Gruesome stuff, to be sure.
– A quick Court TV special on the real murders.
However, the real saving grace of this DVD is the SECOND disc, which contains, in its entirety, “Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes”, a two-hour documentary about the real Holmes and his life in the porn industry. I’d actually recommend watching this BEFORE the movie. It’s a fascinating look at the industry and how it can change someone into a drug-dealing thief, and follows him from glory in the early days of mainstream porn into his pathetic end as he knowingly took jobs in Europe while he was infected with HIV. It’s almost worth getting the DVD just for the second disc, honestly. In fact, for fans of Boogie Nights, you’ll instantly recognize NUMEROUS references to his life, like a scene taken word-for-word from his home movies, where he claims to block his own sex scenes. This should have been included with Boogie Nights.
The Ratings
The Film: **
The Video: ***
The Audio: **1/2
The Extras: *****
