Seriously, I've read some of the reviews on this film, and I have to ask, were you people watching the same movie.
Yes, I give the set directors a lot of credit for being able to recreate 1930 vintage Los Angeles, but so what?
None of the characters are likable, the story seems aimless, Karen Black is simply not a very good actress. Donald Sutherland is just icky. (and his character "Homer Simpson" makes me wish for the animated version. D'oh!) Then you had the creepy child actor, the creepier Billy Barty, and so on.
This is one of those films cinema buffs love and the rest of us look at each other and go, "What the heck!"