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Wonderland

It is a testament to Val Kilmer's acting ability that he is so frequently able to overcome bad dialogue to deliver a convincing performance.

Unlike previous films where he was able to melt into the role of a real person [Jim Morrison for example], there wasn't really a point in the film where I wasn't aware that I was watching Val Kilmer. He doesn't really look that much like John Holms, but that isn't really an issue, because this film isn't really about the porn star John Holmes. This is a crime story, one told from two opposing viewpoints.

The crime is the murder of four people in July of 1981 at a house on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles, and the involvement of pornstar John C. Holmes. It covers the period from just before the event up until Holmes flight to evade prosecution.

The first version of events comes from biker and ex-con David Lind [Dylan McDermott in a bad dye job and worse fake beard and sideburns which at times looked drawn in with makeup]. Lind tells cops a story of a crazy cocaine addled Holmes setting up a robbery on the Arab, a contact of Holmes' who later turns out to be night club owner and all around shady guy Eddie Nash. Holmes sets up the robbery to cover his outstanding debts to Lind's friends who live at the house on Wonderland. The robbery goes off, then Lind realizes who they were robbing, but by then it is too late. Later, while Lind is out, Holmes rats them out to Nash and brings in thugs who kill everyone at the house, including Lind's girlfriend.

The next version is told by Holmes, and he paints a different story, with Lind largely orchestrating the affair and Holmes being more or less used by everyone else, including Nash. In Holmes version he is forced to help in the killings even though he doesn't want to.

Framing this story are views of Holme's life with his girlfriend Dawn [the incredibly cute Kate Bosworth] and their interaction with John's straight laced wife [Lisa Kudrow].

The film is well put together and ably directed and has good performances from Kilmer and Bosworth, but they are only barely enough to overpower the bad dialogue and generally sub-par script. There is waaay too much exposition in the movie. Instead of long shots of exposition fading to the action there needed to be a little more overlap. It would have helped the flow of the film.

One thing I greatly enjoyed was the use of music in the film, with songs in the soundtrack fading into the background of the scene where they were being played on radios in scene, that was a nice little touch.

Janeane Garofalo makes an appearnace in the film, but she is relegated to about two lines, and I think she is one of the murder victims. The same is true of Christina Applegate, who gets about three lines.

All in all a passable crime film, but Boogie Nights will do you better for a John Holmes film.



Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes

This documentary is the second disc of the Wonderland set, and is one of those rare occasions where the supplemental material surpasses the film it comes with.

It covers John's life from birth to death, and does a pretty good job of presenting what I think is a fair portrayal of the man from the words of the people who knew him. You see his early marriage, his emergence as a pornstar, and his slide into drug abuse, involvement in the Wonderland murders and death from AIDS.

It definitely doesn't make John out to be a very nice guy.

There is good juxtapositioning of images in the film, such as where his second wife talks of how nice and good he was and their love for one another, and of his final days and want of cremation, with everyone else's take that he didn't really like her or care for her and that she shut his friends out at the end and didn't allow for a burial as they say he wanted.

Another good bit is where Bob Chinn, the director and creator of the Johnny Wadd films, talks of John's constant lies and then they cut to an interview from the 70s with Chinn and Holmes where Holmes is going on about blocking his own scenes then the question is asked of Chinn what he thinks of letting John block his own scenes, to which Chinn replies to John "I don't let you block your own sex scenes." John just continues on as he was saying unperturbed.

A very good documentary.