‎Ed Wood (1994) directed by Tim Burton • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Ed Wood

1994 Directed by Tim Burton

When it came to making bad movies, Ed Wood was the best.

The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.

Johnny Depp Martin Landau Sarah Jessica Parker Patricia Arquette Jeffrey Jones G. D. Spradlin Vincent D'Onofrio Bill Murray Mike Starr Max Casella Brent Hinkley William James Myers Juliet Landau Clive Rosengren Norman Alden Leonard Termo Ned Bellamy Danny Dayton Ross Manarchy Bill Cusack Lisa Marie Stanley DeSantis Biff Yeager Joseph R. Gannascoli Carmen Filpi Lisa Malkiewicz Melora Walters Conrad Brooks Don Amendolia Show All…

127 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Dragonknight ★★★★½ 10

Film #44 of Project 90

” We are going to finish this picture just the way I want it... because you cannot compromise an artist's vision.”

Making a biopic about someone who is known as “The Worst Director of All Time” looks like an easy task, there is a reason that people call him the worst so if you want to make a funny and entertaining comedy you only need to show his “style” of film making and his childish passion for his own works. His life gives you enough material to make at least a couple of parodies, but Tim Burton chooses another way. He doesn't see Edward J. Wood as a talentless man who can be laughed at,…
Review by Matt Singer ★★★★½ 3

“Filmmaking is not about the tiny details. It’s about the big picture.”

This movie gets the details and the big picture right. And the dialogue is so wonderful, from the resonant power of the scene with Orson Welles about artistic independence (“Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams?”) to Bill Murray eagerly anticipating his upcoming sex change ("Goodbye penis!"). ED WOOD is an absurdly rose-colored view of the real Ed Wood at times; it ends with him in "triumph" at the exact second before Wood's life began an irreversible slide into alcoholism, destitution, and death. But it's also a genuinely affectionate tribute to this guy who stuck to his guns, loved the movies, and was, in a lot of ways, years ahead of his time.
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★½ 6

This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama.
-Edward D. Wood, Jr.

This is probably my favorite Tim Burton film now. Most of his films of the last few years have been style over substance, but like I noted with Frankenweenie, he seems to be at his best when he's passionate about the subject matter. You can clearly see this is a personal film for Burton made with a lot of heart.

You can tell from the get-go that this is not a factual based biopic of Ed Wood, but rather a tribute…
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★ 1

80/100

Faulting this movie for whitewashing Wood's life is goofy—no one could possibly mistake its cartoonish exaggeration for a traditional biopic. Instead, it uses the broad outline of his career as the foundation for an affectionate, heartfelt paean to cockeyed optimism, with Depp as the poignant personification of drive and passion divorced from talent. Making this funny and even borderline heroic rather than cruel was no small feat, and ultimately I don't care that Lugosi was actually married for the last year of his life, or that Wood was a skirt-chasing drunk from an early age. And has there ever been such a non-judgmental portrait of tranvestism? (Even if there has, I bet it's comparatively dreary.) Stunningly beautiful, too—maybe the…
Review by Matt Petrocelli ★★★★ 1

"This is the one. 'This' is the one I'll be remembered for."
Review by Truman Segal ★★★★★ 12

tb to when tim burton cared about his work

Recent reviews

Review by Joel Clark ★★★★★

Perfect cozy Halloweenie biographical film. I absolutely adore the shit out of Ed Wood.

Actually going to check up the prices to his movies when I get paid. I've seen a few, but I don't own any.

One scene in Ed Wood that always just... really hits me hard is when the camera pans down the hallway and looks in on Bela going cold turkey. It's just... heartbreaking and a powerful moment.

Halloweenie perfection, and incredibly inspirational.
Review by Sam Van Haren ★★★★★

ED WOOD is amazing! Might indeed be Burton’s best. Definitely my favorite Depp performance. And Landau is completely fucking perfect. Gorgeously shot and beautifully written.
Review by Thomas Barker ★★★

Johnny Depp shines in Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood', a biopic of the notoriously bad director of the same name. Despite some pacing issues and a lack of focus throughout, the film supports plenty of style, a good script and some excellent performances.
Review by Rubens Pereira da Silva Filho ★★★½

Filmmaking is not about the tiny details.
It's about the big picture.
Review by Zā ★★★½

As far as biopics go, this is the level I think more people should go in terms of creativity. I mean the whole film is in homage to Ed Wood, while still having the charms of a Burton film. (Back when he still tried!) Watching a couple interviews, I can see a couple liberties they took and I can't believe SJP actually went up to the real Dolores after the premiere (never once contacted her prior) and told she performed as the worst actress of all time - like rude... She wasn't that big of a star yet even like damn. I think Johnny Depp plays one of his finer performances before he too would stop trying. Martin Landau (R.I.P.) god bless, he acted the hell out of Lugosi and he deserved that Oscar!!!
Review by Andrew Franklin ★★★★

I took a class over the summer about film production management and all that goes into a film because the camera ever starts rolling (breaking down a script, budgeting, casting, hiring, securing locations, scheduling). I shat a brick when Weiss told Ed to start shooting on Monday.

***

The film is a sweet little movie. It's not my favorite Burton but I like how sincere it is in the way it covers Wood's life. Even though everything he put out was awful, the film fully embraces his passion for filmmaking, and the performance of alleged wife beater Johnny Depp expertly portrays this. I like how the film sets up Orson Welles as Wood's idol, considering one is known for the…
Review by AlexandreFR ★★★★½

J'assume encore entièrement le fait que j'ai eu une affiche de ce film dans ma chambre durant des années. Ça reste, fort probablement, le plus beau film de Tim Burton.
Review by Cathon

Oui mais moi c'est un bio pic sur Vampira que je veux.
Review by duudee ★★★

For me this isn't just a comedy movie, it's more like a tragic-comedy movies.