Review Copyright Cassandra Henry, 2003

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"He was in that house as sure as Christ was on the cross." -- LAPD Detective CASS' CLIP (WARNING: **spoilers below**) Back in the early 1980's, if you were a heavy clubber, you probably danced the night away at one of the nightspots owned by Los Angeles' biggest club owner/notorious drug kingpin, Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian). Or, if you were into partying, freebasing and snorting coke, in a more intimate setting, you were probably a guest, at the Wonderland party house of drug dealers, Ron (Josh Lucas) and Susan Launius' (Christina Applegate, who is damn near unrecognizable in this role). A regular guest, at both hot spots, is John Holmes (Val Kilmer), the infamous and washed-up porn star known as "Johnny Wadd". [What Johnny Wadd packed is what made him the king of the adult film industry]. John's days on top of the X-rated movie industry are over because of his insatiable cocaine addiction. His marriage to Sharon (Lisa Kudrow) is over, so John moves from place to place with his jailbait girlfriend, Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth). Ron and his business partners, Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson) and David Lind (Dylan McDermott), unsuccessfully try to fence several stolen antique guns. John tells the Wonderland gang that he can get cash for the guns from his friend, Eddie Nash. [Everyone knows if you do business with criminals, drug dealers and a dope fiend, something bad is gonna happen or somebody is gonna get screwed]. Quite frankly, the only thing John is interested in is keeping the drugs flowing and having enough money to score his next fix. When John tells the Wonderland crew that Eddie refuses to deal, but that he knows where Eddie stashes his money, Ron, Billy, and David decide to rob Eddie instead. They steal $1.2 million in drugs, jewelry and cash from Eddie. And like the greedy, good-for-nothing low-life, dopehead John really is, he's not satisfied with his cut. After Nash figures out who setup the hit, there's only one way for him to settle the score. Nash's bodyguards, lead by Greg Diles (Faizon Love), pay Ron and his associates an unannounced, late night visit, and all bloody hell breaks loose. DA 411 Wonderland is based on the true story of the quadruple murders that took place in 1981 at 8736 Wonderland Avenue, in Los Angeles, California. The whodunit aspect of this plot unfolds when one of the Wonderland survivors, McDermott (Lind), and legendary porn-star, Holmes (Kilmer), tell LAPD detectives different versions of how the events leading up to this fateful night occurred. Left unanswered is: (1) was Holmes threatened by Nash to rat-out the Wonderland gang; (2) did Holmes witness the Manson-style killings on Wonderland Avenue; or (3) did Holmes participate in bludgeoning to death Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Barbara Richardson (Natasha Gregson-Wagner) and Joy Miller (Janeane Garofalo)? Val Kilmer is an okay character actor, and he gives a decent performance as John Holmes. According to the production notes, during the filming of Wonderland, Sharon Holmes and Dawn Schiller were both present on the set. What insight the real Holmes and Schiller provided Lisa Kudrow (Holmes) and Kate Bosworth (Schiller) in character preparation was not perceivable. Their performances didn't really convey why they were so loyal to John. But, I did enjoy Lisa Kudrow's screen time because it was so different from her role on Friends. Wonderland picks up after Holmes is out of the adult industry and down on his luck trying to support his drug habit. Director and co-writer, James Cox, tries everything from split screen effects and a montage of newspaper reports of the actual event, to the wardrobe and soundtrack, to give this movie a feel of the gritty and chaotic drug world of the 80's. Personally, I think this movie could have been told better in a Boomtown episode. Adel Nasrallah (a/k/a Eddie Nash) and John Holmes were implicated in this multiple homicide. They were both tried but Holmes was acquitted and a hung jury freed Nash. In 1988, Holmes died of an AIDS-related illness. Nash did serve eight months in a federal prison for racketeering and conspiracy surrounding the Wonderland murders, but at 72, he was released from jail in 2001 for medical reasons. CASS' CONCLUSION If you liked Boogie Nights (Mark Wahlberg's character was loosely based on Holmes), then you may like Wonderland. I, on the other hand, hated every minute I sat through watching this pointless movie. WONDERLAND:   back to top Copyright Cassandra Henry, 2003 EMAIL: cass@3blackchicks.com