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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Mulholland Drive
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 out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
1½ stars out of 4
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Whatever David Lynch is selling, I'm not buying. From the
writer/director of "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks" comes another dark, mysterious
thriller that opens with an automobile accident on Mulholland Drive, the
serpentine street that twists high in the Hollywood hills. Dazed, a beautiful
brunette (Laura Elena Harring) emerges and stumbles down a hill, slipping
unobserved into a '30s-style apartment as the tenant leaves for a trip. The next
morning, a dewy blonde (Naomi Watts) from Deep River, Ontario, arrives in LA
with dreams of stardom in her suitcase. Her aunt owns the apartment and the two
women meet. The brunette has amnesia so the blonde tries to help her discover
her identity along with her latent lesbian lust. Meanwhile, a hotshot director
(Justin Theroux), whose wife is in bed with the poolman, is forced to cast a
certain actress in his new film and there's an assassin (Mark Pellegrino)
roaming the city. The tortuous paths of these various characters - and others
named Cookie, Coco and Cowboy - intersect at various points but the plot
remains elusive because, midway through the story, Lynch has the brunette and
blonde play two different women in an alternate reality, leaving a huge wad of
cash, a blue metallic key, a paralyzed mogul and a lot of questions that go
unanswered. Elena Harring and particularly Naomi Watts are gifted actresses,
effectively making the subtle switch. The same cannot be said for former M.G.M.
dancer Ann Miller who's stiff and self-conscious, speaking - like most Lynch
players - in staccato tones. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Mulholland
Drive" is a frenzied, frustrating 4. Originally designed as an episodic TV
pilot, this surreal triumph of suspenseful style over substance is packaged as a
puzzle with several of the key pieces left out.
Copyright © 2001 Susan Granger
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