TajLV’s review published on Letterboxd:
There is no such thing as bad press, Eddie. Man from New York even said he's putting me on the front page. First celebrity ever to check into rehab." ~ Bela Lugosi
Based upon Rudolph Grey's biography "Nightmare of Ecstasy," this picture tells the (mostly) true story of Edward D. Wood Jr. (1924-1978), arguably the worst Hollywood director of all time. His movies included such Grade-B flops as 1953's "Glen or Glenda," "Bride of the Monster" (1955) and "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1956).
Tim Burton's take on Ed Wood, as played by Johnny Depp, is simultaneously humorous and tragic, showing an unstoppably optimistic opportunist who won't let go of his dreams, even when faced with cruel reality ... his movies just aren't any good. Stealing the thunder from a cast that also includes Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio and Bill Murray is Martin Landau as the aging Bela Lugosi. His performance earned him as Oscar for best Supporting Actor, well deserved.
Perhaps only in Burton's capable hands could a movie about a man who makes bad movies actually become a pretty good movie. But to my tastes, it's not on par with much of his other work. The titular character just didn't strike me as memorable or interesting as Beetlejuice or Sweeney Todd or Edward Scissorhands -- a rather middling effort in the final analysis.