TheRetroCritic

James Franco stars in this decent TV movie about the life of troubled Hollywood icon James Dean. The casting of Franco is perfect and his portrayal is entertaining to say the least. The film itself is the usual biopic template with Dean's daddy issues and his climbing success steadily developed throughout. The film looks great and although it romanticizes a lot of Dean's life, that style feels strangely appropriate. Perhaps the melodramatic nature of Dean's work ( Rebel Without a Cause , East of Eden ) makes it a logical choice and adds a tragic feel to the whole thing. For such a short life as a subject, the film does really well to keep us hooked and although there's the usual name-dropping inevitable with biopics (Martin Landau!) it doesn't overdo it and sticks to the important stuff. Not bad, definitely worth checking out.