In November of 1924, a mysterious Hollywood death occurred aboard media mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht. Included among the famous guests that weekend were, Charlie Chaplin, Hearst's mistress, starlet Marion Davies, the studio system creator, producer Thomas Ince, and feared gossip columnist, Louella Parsons. [TRAILER]

STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

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DAVID JOHNSON'S REVIEW

The twenties has always been a bit of a interesting era. A time of moonshine, gangsters, the start of the movie industry. But what's more amazing, is how little we've really changed since then. The characters in this movie are similar to characters today. They're still part of the drug, sex, and power obsessed culture that we live in today. Style has changed -- although not nearly as a appreciably as one might expect from such 'irregular' periods like the 80's.

This similarity is part of the movies charm. The characters are interesting and they develop an interesting plot. Unfortunately the movie doesn't really take any steps beyond that. Yes it entertains, but the analogies between the 20's and today could have been exploited more -- perhaps to bring the film into a new more meaningful light.

I apologize in advance for not being able to bring much of anything to the characters and accuracy of the events in the film. Neither I, nor my grandparents where born when the events occurred. That brings us to the same question we asked ourselves during A Beautiful Mind -- what kind of accuracy do we expect from movies about real people. There's some catches in this movie however. The actual events that occurred on the boat are not known. They may be real characters, but they aren't necessarily in a real circumstance. In this case, the film is closest to fiction -- granted they used real people as templates for characters, but the events and circumstances are entirely fictional (I suppose they could be true).

I'm not sure what to make of this film. On one hand it's incredibly enjoyable. On the other hand, it's also the kind of film that annoys me. Trying to do historical fiction always seems like a cop out. On one hand, historical fiction does give us insights to the events of the past (providing they are created correctly) but if they are not accurate, why use real characters. Do we need to introduce the possibility for error, and do we need to use history as an excuse to twist it. Personally films should either reproduce history as accurately as possible or make a statement of their own, using their own designs. To do anything else indicates a lack of creativity.

If you feel you would enjoy a good show, and might like seeing some characters from the 20's this movie should be fun. Just don't expect for it to change your life.

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