Ed Wood (1994)

Sometimes people become so fixated on their dreams that they don't realize they might not be entirely talented. Now doesn't that sound like a good basis for a comedy? But somehow, Tim Burton's Ed Wood manages to be a tale of both failure and success, and sorrow and hilarity. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the movie is a (mostly) true story set in 1950s Hollywood about Edward D. Wood, Jr., the eccentric man named the worst filmmaker of all time.

Writer-director-producer Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) isn't always the sort of person you would want to be around. He makes unpopular movies that waste investors' money, his habit of cross-dressing irritates his long suffering girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker), and his incredibly cheesy horror-thrillers often feature aging actors such as the former Count Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau). But he's determined to make movies, even if it means writing scripts about giant octopuses and alien zombies. Will he ever be happy?

Granted, this movie did sort of make up one or two things that didn't really happen. And granted, it's not exactly underrated. It won two Oscars and is in the IMDB Top 250, but not many people seem to remember it or know about it. Which is too bad, because it really is a funny and moving film. One of the best side characters has got to be Tor Johnson (Pro-wrestler George "The Animal" Steele ), the 500-pound Swedish wrestler who would go on to appear in many of Wood's movies. (Ed Wood: "How would you like to be in movies?" Tor Johnson: "Movies? You mean like the Mickey Mouse?" Ed Wood: "Sure.") Of course, the snappy dialogue is where most of the humor comes from, like in the scene where Ed and friends get baptized in order to convince a church to fund one of their movies (Priest: "Do you reject Satan and all his minions?" Ed Wood's Friend: "Sure.") But I could fill several paragraphs with lines from this movie. Which reminds me: "It's the worst movie you've ever seen? Well, my next one will be better!"

It does start to get a little slow in the middle, but the best part is definitely in the third act when Ed Wood starts making his most infamous movie, Plan 9 From Outer Space. Using spaceship models on string, an indoor graveyard set with cardboard tombstones, and his friends as actors, Wood made what is considered the worst film of all time. And Ed Wood ends on a triumphant note, as Mr. Wood feels completely reinvigorated about his life and his career ("This is the one...this is the one I'll be remembered for."). And that's the moral of the story: to always follow your dreams, even if those dreams sort of turn out crap.