‘Babylon’ zooms in on Hollywood’s wild old days, like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ on steroids

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

After romanticizing Hollywood in “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle widens his “Another Day of Sun” lens to explore the town’s dark roots in “Babylon,” which is basically another dawn-of-talkies era “Singin’ in the Rain” on a cocktail of ampethamines and steroids. Despite a stellar cast and showy moments (given who’s involved how could there not be?), the writer-director’s sprawling, messy, three-hour-plus endurance test isn’t ready for its closeup.

Following multiple characters and mixing in close-to-reality versions of Hollywood lore to ground the exercise, “Babylon” opens with a sensory-overload illustration of early showbiz decadence and debauchery circa 1926. In a not-too-subtle symbol of that, the film opens with a low-level studio employee (Diego Calva) hauling an elephant up a hill to serve as an accessory at an absurdly lavish party (OK, orgy, but given what’s to come, it’s not worth quibbling about semantics).

It’s more than 30 minutes before the title blasts across the screen, but by then, Chazelle has introduced most of the key characters, including an aging Douglas Fairbanks-like star (Brad Pitt) on wife No. Whatever, a talented musician (Jovan Adepo), and a tough-as-nails wannabe actress (Margot Robbie, stealing every scene she’s in) who announces, “I’m already a star,” and then when asked what movies she’s been in says, “Nothing yet.”

There’s also the gossip columnist (Jean Smart), the exotic entertainer (Li Jun Li) and an assortment of strivers and stars, with everyone having boarded the same escalator, the only question being whether their side is heading up or going down.

The advent of sound pictures shakes everything up in a big way, just as it did in “Singin’ in the Rain,” setting the stage for career-making rises and tragic falls.

There’s some poignance in that, but Chazelle comes bounding out of the gate so aggressively — with such over-the-top flourishes, from projectile vomiting to the elephant relieving itself at an unfortunate time — that it’s difficult to care much about most of the cartoon-quality personalities.

“Babylon” rallies a bit toward the end, but unlike the way time passes watching “Avatar: The Way of Water,” another movie that cries out for the good ol’ days of intermissions, the middle portion bogs down while laboring to get there. In that sense, the truck with the elephant turns out to be a pretty good metaphor, just not in the most flattering of ways.

Thematically, there’s also a vague sense of wistfulness for the freewheeling excess of the time — back when a dead body could be treated as an inconvenience — at a moment when Hollywood and other industries have been forced to look hard at the misconduct that kind of environment allowed to fester.

Perhaps foremost, “Babylon” feels like a case of providing a talented filmmaker unfettered license to make the movie he wanted to make, when a few judicious notes — whether that involved trimming the length or curbing a scene — actually would have been helpful.

In another key difference from “Avatar,” “Babylon” lacks the connection to established intellectual property that might coax more people to brave that daunting length.

Hollywood’s infatuation with its earlier self is well documented, as movies from “Sunset Boulevard” to “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” attest. Already a Golden Globe nominee (oddly classified as a “musical or comedy”), “Babylon” could be an awards player despite its flaws thanks to that dynamic, fueled by its star power and tantalizing subject matter.

Ultimately, though, Chazelle has delivered another valentine to the magic, power and history of movies — and yes, the ideal of watching them with all those wonderful people in the dark — that given current trends, even those with a taste for this overcooked stew will likely end up streaming.

“Babylon” premieres December 23 in US theaters. It’s rated R.

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