Maps to the Stars - B

Rated R, 112 minutes
Wes's Grade: B

Robert Pattinson

"Maps to the Stars" a hypnotic, disturbing look at the dark side of Hollywood

Acclaimed director David Cronenberg started his Hollywood career as a horror film director, with some memorable films such as "Scanners," "Videodrome" and "The Fly," though recently he's been mining the dark dramas, including his hypnotic, well-acted new behind-the-scenes drama "Maps to the Stars," which looks at the horrors of show business and Hollywood. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed Hollywood TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, his wife (who is also his sister) Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) manages the career of their disaffected child-star son, Benjie ("The Killing'" Evan Bird), a fresh graduate of rehab at age 13. Unknown to them, the estranged member of the Weiss family is back in town, the mysteriously scarred and tormented Agatha ("Stoker's" Mia Wasikowska), fresh out of a stint in a psych ward. She befriends a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) and becomes personal assistant to unraveling actress Havana Segrand (Oscar-winner Julianne Moore), who is beset by the ghost of her legendary mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon). But Agatha is on a quest for redemption - and even in this realm of the artificial, and the unearthly, she's determined to find it, no matter what it takes. Directed by Cronenberg and written by Bruce Wagner, the disturbing new Hollywood drama "Maps to the Stars" is a pretty savage, downbeat portrait of show business, and while often difficult to watch, you also won't be able to turn away.  It's those of those slow-moving "Crash"-like thread of intersecting stories, peppered with some shocking Cronenberg moments, particularly its depressing climax, which has a couple of strangely watchable moments (my favorite involving a very bloody moment involving Wasikowksa and Moore's characters that I won't spoil here), and one of the most enjoyable things about it is that Carrie Fisher, who cameos here as herself, is responsible for some of the darker moments. Of the large cast, Moore is the most memorable as the blowsy, washed-up actress haunted by her famous but mean actress mother, and Bird, as the star kid who'll put any of the Corey's to shame with all his problems. The ghosts popping in and out gave it a disjointed feel - yes, we get the point - they're haunted by their problems - and there are too many extraneous characters with little to do (Cusack and Pattinson among them, along with a host of minor characters tagging alongside Bird's character), not to mention there's not a single sympathetic character in the bunch, though maybe that's the whole point. "Maps to the Stars" is weird, depressing and disturbing, something that Cronenberg is an expert at, and while it's not for everyone, it's certainly worth a look for a different view of Hollywood.