Movie Review

Mulholland Drive

A Love Story In The City Of Dreams.
Mulholland Drive Movie Poster

US Release Date: 10-12-2001

Directed by: David Lynch

Starring

  • Naomi Watts
  • Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn
  • Ann Miller
  • Coco Lenoix
  • Laura Harring
  • Rita/Camilla Rhodes
  • Dan Hedaya
  • Vincenzo Castigliane
  • Justin Theroux
  • Adam Kesher
  • Brent Briscoe
  • Detective Neal Domgaard
  • Robert Forster
  • Detective Harry McKnight
Average Stars:
Reviewed on: October 14th, 2001
Naomi Watts kisses Laura Harring in Mulholland Drive.

Naomi Watts kisses Laura Harring in Mulholland Drive.

Memo to David Lynch: In the future please do us all a favor and keep your drug-addled hallucinations to yourself.

Mulholland Dr. starts out incredibly intriguing by leading the viewer into a movie with ripe potential for mystery, intrigue and suspense. Then in true Lynch style everything that we thought about the characters turns out to be wrong. This would be fine if anything made sense. However he is apparently not a gifted enough storyteller to do this so instead he presents us with this convoluted mess in the guise of profound art which it most definitely is not.

The movie starts with a beautiful woman riding in the back seat of a car being driven through Beverly Hills at night. They make a sudden stop along the edge of a canyon and the driver pulls out a gun and points it at her. Before he has a chance to pull the trigger they are hit head on by a car full of joy riding teens. After the dust settles the beautiful woman emerges from the car as the only apparent survivor. In a daze she begins climbing down into the canyon. She ends up sneaking into a vintage Hollywood bungalow where she falls asleep. The bungalow turns out to be rented by an elderly woman who has gone away and has lent the place to her naive and also beautiful niece who is of course an aspiring actress. She discovers the woman from the car accident in the shower and from their first meeting a sexual energy is palpable between the two women. The brunette (the woman from the accident) has amnesia. When asked her name by the blonde (the aspiring actress whose name is Betty) she is unsure how to answer until she spots a poster from the movie Gilda on the wall and decides to call herself Rita. They discover in her purse rolls of hundred dollar bills and a mysterious blue key. Together the two women set out to uncover the secret of 'Rita's' past.

The movie at this point had me completely fascinated. The mood, the setting and the characters are all well done and entertaining. Legendary musical star Ann Miller contributes to the mood with an appearance as Betty's rather colorful landlady. But leave it to David Lynch to find a way to utterly spoil this beautiful situation which he has so masterfully created. I won't give details away but lets just say that the movie loses any semblance of reality and cohesiveness. Which is a shame really because this could have been very nearly a great piece of cinema.

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Reviewed on: September 7th, 2006
Laura Harring makes out with Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

Laura Harring makes out with Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

The plot of the movie; a jilted lesbian has a psychedelic dream. The highlight of the movie; a lesbian sex scene between two hot women. The point of the movie; David Lynch is warped. My reaction; never watch another movie directed by David Lynch. Nuff said