Movie Review: Maps to the Stars ****

Maps to the Stars is not an easy film to watch. It's very dark. The story is sleazy and creepy, and parts of it made me cringe, but I never looked at my watch and it's a film I've been thinking about since I saw it several days ago.
Even though Julianne Moore is not one of my favorite actors - I thought her performance in Still Alice was good but not great - her performance in this film is the more Oscar-worthy.
Mia Wasikowska is a favorite of mine since I first saw her in the HBO series In Treatment, and she's fantastic here. All of the performances - John Cusack as a smarmy self-help guru, Evan Bird as an arrogant, mean-spirited teen star - are riveting.
If you're in the mood for something light and fluffy go see The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel but if you want something surprising and sinister, where everyone has a secret, and something you'll talk about for a long while afterward, go see Maps to the Stars.
Four out of five stars for Maps to the Stars.