Superficial "clippings" of a life. Attempts to provide credibility to the story that is acted out by adding "eye witness" statements of some "friends", fellow actors and even Nathalie's sister Lana cannot take away the aftertaste that this is just another "movie of the week". Nobody in the movie, not even the leads, has the chance to go very deep in their performances as the script is too poor and the scenes are too short. What we're left with is caricatures of what the people and situations really must have been like. The title role is best cast, with the role of Wagner as a good second. The small roles in the rest of the cast (Nathalie's co-stars), however, and of actor-friends and directors, are painfully inadequately filled in. Beatty, short and rather stocky compared to the real thing, is laughable, as are Dean and Joan Collins, whose physical resemblance is so bad that the viewers would never know who they are supposed to be if they weren't addressed by their character's names. None of the actors for these parts resemble their real life counterparts anywhere near. Verdict: disappointingly average, unconvincing and lacking warmth, especially if one considers that "those who were there" were involved in the making of this production.
Review of The Mystery of Natalie Wood
