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The Black Dahlia

Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in California history.

2006 · 2h 1m · R Crime, Drama, Thriller
Directed by Brian De Palma

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Overview

In 1940s Los Angeles, two former boxers-turned-cops must grapple with corruption, narcissism, stag films and family madness as they pursue the killer of an aspiring young actress.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
31%
Tomatometer
Rotten

Ellroy's prose crawls into characters' secret hearts and under the reader's skin, but its foetid horrors become kitschy here, the script too streamlined and the lead performances too shallow to dredge the story's depths.

Ben Walters, Time Out
Fresh

The pairing of Ellroy and De Palma proves a marriage made in hardboiled heaven.

Nathan Rabin, AV Club
Rotten

The picture is a kind of fattened goose that's been stuffed with goose-liver pate. It's overrich and fundamentally unsatisfying.

David Denby, New Yorker
Rotten

This is far from one of the director's better efforts and should be avoided by all those who are not sworn De Palma boosters.

James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Rotten

Mr. De Palma and his collaborators have been unable to translate Mr. Ellroy's depth of feeling into cinematic equivalents.

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

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