Directed by: Allan Coulter Starring: Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Robin Tunney MPAA rating: R (for violence, adult situations and adult language) Running time: 123 minutes Best suited for: noirists, Hollywood lore-ists Least suited for: gun-happy, high-body-count crime buffs "Hollywoodland" is dark, adult-oriented and intelligent noir, a throwback to Hollywood's heyday, when tortured gumshoes would single-mindedly tackle unsolvable murders for little reward-perhaps only for redemption. The carrot wiggling on this cinematic stick happens to be a very real crime: the apparent suicide of "Superman" actor George Reeves in 1959.

This is a nicely crafted little film-"little" in the sense that there's a lack of grandiosity at play here, a lack of pretension. You'll find traces of some heavyhitting classics in terms of pacing and dialogue: I was reminded of both "Chinatown" and "L.A. Confidential" flitting around the shadows of Louis Simo's tortured soul.

Adrien Brody plays Simo, a luckless P.I. who hustles clients for 50 bucks a day. Simo's separated from his wife and working out of his apartment, just trying to make ends meet. He's thrown a bone by his ex-partner-the cops have quickly closed the case on George Reeves' sensationalized suicide, but Reeves' weepy mother has come to town, claiming her son would never have killed himself. But this is Hollywood, and Reeves is already yesterday's news. Nobody's paying attention. Simo senses paydirt in trying to stir up sympathy. It's not the truth Simo's after, just his picture in the paper and enough money to scrape by a few more weeks.

Acorn's Rating Guide: Simo bribes his way into the morgue and sees bruises on Reeves' corpse. He discovers a couple of unexplained bullet holes in Reeves' bedroom-and suddenly he's starting to believe his own PR. Maybe the harddrinking, carousing Reeves was murdered.

"Hollywoodland" marries two divergent stories. The first is Reeves' attempt at Hollywood stardom. Respectably played by Ben Affleck (his best work since "Good Will Hunting"), George Reeves is an unemployed actor bumping around L.A. hotspots, desperate to be seen by all the right people. He catches the eye of older but attractive Toni Mannix (Diane Lane) and takes her home. The next morning he discovers that Toni's the wife of Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), the general manager of MGM. Reeves sees his blunder as career suicide, but he's smitten with Toni, and she with him. The two begin a long-standing affair that leads to Reeves' auditioning for an insipid kiddie TV show called "Superman." He's offered the lead and accepts the part only for the money, praying that no one will watch. But the show becomes a phenom and Reeves a household name to every kid under 12.

Interwoven with Reeves' sudden stardom is Simo's search for Reeves' killer.

Simo discovers that Eddie Mannix has a history of eliminating studio "problems." He also discovers thatReeves' affair with Toni ended badly, giving her motivation as well. And when he learns that Reeves' part in "From Here to Eternity" ended up on the cutting-room floor, leaving the actor emotionally despondent, his only option a pro-wrestling gig, Simo realizes Reeves actually might have killed himself.

Simo plays out these assorted, fatal scenarios in his mind, trying to put together the pieces that make sense. He gets beat up in the process and is despondent when his ex-wife finds another man and when his young son becomes inconsolable at the news of Superman's demise. Hollywood's a magical town after all-but Simo dares to peek behind the curtain and what he finds is disturbingly grim.

"Hollywoodland" is a pretty nifty period piece that manages to capture L.A.'s quintessential '50s. Disappointing, however, is any mention of the title's significance: the fabled 30-foot-tall Hollywood hillside landmark once read "Hollywoodland"-a real-estate promotion in the early '20s. It represented Hollywood's boundless potential, a suitable allegory for most actors' far-reaching dreams.

For noir buffs, the film should work well enough, although some may perceive "Hollywoodland" taking its own sweet time in trailing Simo through the clues. And while there's a hint of redemption by the film's end, Simo and Reeves' paths remain curiously separate. Sure, Reeves' exit is Hollywood lore (as suicide, not murder), although the fictional Simo could have, in my opinion, gone to far greater depths in plumbing Hollywood's darker side. Might he have proven murder, if only to himself? "Hollywoodland" lacks a knockout punch that could have emotionally flattened its audience and settles instead for a draw. Perhaps, like Louis Simo, the film realizes that breaking even is sometimes the best one can hope for.