Ever since Paul Thomas Anderson's thinly veiled biopic of John Holmes, Boogie Nights, the myth of the extraordinary 1970s porn star has grown to unprecedented levels. In this loose but rather directionless crime biopic, Val Kilmer plays the extraordinarily well-endowed 'actor' whose insatiable reputation for drugs and women preceded him. Something of a loose canon, Holmes may have been well able for the ladies - he starred in hundreds of hardcore movies in the 1970s and early 1980s - but he was an extremely disturbed individual. Emotionally constipated and a heavy drug user, Holmes got involved with all manner of LA hoodlums and low lifes, winding up one of the chief suspects in the infamous Wonderland murders.
While Kilmer reconfirms what startling talent he had in the first place before his troublesome reputation took over, Wonderland's main fault lies with the reluctance of the director to commit his film. As director and co-writer, James Cox doesn't seem all that interested in the sheer car crash that was Holmes, and routinely avoids lingering on the human drama that was obviously unfolding in the star's life. Though extremely technically proficient, Wonderland has little interest in actually investigating any of its characters' lives, with the director preferring to showcase his own abilities.