I so much wanted to like this movie. Even when bad reviews started coming in from the Festival it opened in. I thought to myself "maybe it's just misunderstood to those unfamiliar with Ellroy's novel" But frankly, it just never felt right,,, and then it went more and more uncomfortably wrong; the actors in their roles, the soundtrack vs. certain scenes, the story fumbling it's way around with not enough mention of The Dahlia herself (which really drove the characters in the novel). There were parts of the book that got left out which shouldn't have been, while there we're other parts 'put in' that could've been 'left out'. 'L.A. Confidential' was a longer and more complex book than Ellroy's 'The Black Dahlia', yet Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland knew what was necessary to move the story forward without getting in 'over their heads' in making it a functional screenplay. And that is where this movie fails miserably (along with the other fore-mentioned issues). It is however beautifully shot and lit in many scenes, but even a polished turd is still a turd, and that is essentially what you have here with DePalma's latest offering. This movie could lead to a new future in moving making and subsequent DVD extra's; Alternate Actors, Soundtrack and Screenplay? Because that's the only way this could be saved.