Wonderland (2003)

Synopsis: WONDERLAND – Based on a true story and starring Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Josh Lucas, Eric Bogosian, Tim Blake Nelson, Christina Applegate, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Janeane Garafolo, Franky G. and Carrie Fisher. WONDERLAND explores, in Rashomon-like... WONDERLAND – Based on a true story and starring Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Josh Lucas, Eric Bogosian, Tim Blake Nelson, Christina Applegate, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Janeane Garafolo, Franky G. and Carrie Fisher. WONDERLAND explores, in Rashomon-like fashion, the brutal multiple murders that took place high atop Wonderland Avenue in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon during the Summer of 1981. At first the case seemed to involve only the usual strung-out drug dealers and party hounds, but it quickly became elevated to a classic L.A. noir when it was discovered to be connected to the infamous porn king John C. “Johnny Wadd” Holmes. By the time our story begins, Holmes had fallen from being the biggest and most famous star in the hardcore industry into a state of financial and pharmaceutical ruin. As played by Kilmer, Holmes is devoted to his teenage girlfriend Dawn (Bosworth) while still married to his wife Sharon (Kudrow) and the three form a most unconventional love triangle. In the midst of his spiraling demise, Holmes befriends local drug dealers Ron (Lucas) and Susan Launius (Applegate) along with their “business partner” David Lind (McDermott), who operate out of the Wonderland party house. But Holmes is out of his element in the life-and-death world of high stakes drug crime and he soon gets himself neck deep into trouble. Desperate for cash and drugs, the Wonderland gang decides to rob another dealer friend of John’s -- the notorious gangster Eddie Nash (Bogosian). Soon after the robbery, the slaughter at Wonderland occurs. Did Holmes set up his Wonderland cohorts for murder to save himself from the wrath of Nash? It all depends on whose story you believe. WONDERLAND is directed by James Cox from a screenplay by James Cox & Captain Mauzner and Todd Samovitz & D. Loriston Scott. [More]