I agree that it doesn't try to answer, just give us options, but... going along with my thoughts about its "woe is us" attitude on Hollywood:

I liked it, but this movie had all the ingredients to be a film I would have loved. I love stuff about Hollywood, the era it takes place in, noir etc. but the movie was just very slowly paced, overlong and lacking focus. The performances were great and I really enjoyed the way they used flashbacks and "what if" segments in the film, but for Allen Coulter's debut, it should have been tighter. He has done some incredible work on TV and maybe that was part of the problem...in an episode you can have different threads etc. that take time and don't heavily pay off, but in a movie setting, it just feels like bad pacing or out of place scenes...sure most of these problems were also inherent in the screenplay, but I think more than some of it has to do with how it was shot and cut.

Solid performances and overall fairly interesting, but with this subject matter and cast, it should have been a jaw dropper. I hope The Black Dahlia is a bit more interesting.

And for the record, I thought Affleck was perfectly cast in this.

MATT

I think both situations were understandable, though, arsmith. No woman likes to get old and many have trouble dealing with that; not just ones in the entertainment industry. And Affleck's grievence isn't unreasonable, either. Sure he (Reeves) became a cult icon, but can you imagine how difficult it'd be to be typecast at a relatively young age? Surely he knew Superman wouldn't last forever and then what? He may have considered himself to be a better actor than he actually was, but when you've been typecast to a particular role and you have your life theoretically ahead of you, it's a sombering feeling to know most people are only going to see you as a character you once played.

Saw it. Good, but never great unfortunately. The movie had too much of Simo's personal life as its focus and not enough of his attempt to solve the mystery. Affleck was good in his part, and I seem to recall at one point he was considered for Superman in the Returns, though just about every actor under the sun was mentioned at some point if you go by the internet. Interesting that in a roundabout way he did finally get to play the Man of Steel.
While the denouement of the film left a lot open I think it's supposed to leave us with the conclusion that: Just my take though.

/\ /\ /\ I like your take on it.

I thought Diane Lane disappeared into the role of Toni to good effect, but overall, the film drags a lot in the final act after a promising start. Ben Affleck was good as Reeves, but he never did get the openness of the eyes, the charm, that the real Reeves imparted, and Affleck has a hard time losing the smirk he has. Adrien Brody does a good job in a low key role as Lou, but I wasn't all that interested in his subplot, even with the attempted parallel storylines drawn between Reeves' relationship with his father, and Lou's relationship with his own son.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Sorry, haters. Ben Affleck name Best Actor at Venice Film Fest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5328462.stm

I saw that also!! This is such a plus for the movie! It makes me want to go watch it!

just got back from seeing it. i thought it was very good and enjoyed it quite a bit. i think affleck did a good job as reeves and i liked the way coulter intermingled the flashbacks with the current situation. i liked that they showed the possible suicide/murder opinions, but never gave their answer/point of view on it. i liked walking out wondering what really happened, which we will never know.