The Book
- Complete Monster: Sergeant Friedrich Charles "Fritz(ie)" Vogel is a Dirty Cop whose malice and vileness stand out even in the dark, corrupt halls of the LAPD. A brutal sadist who enjoys "interrogating" suspects, Fritz frequently tortures confessions out of people with no care for if they are truly guilty, simply wanting to accomplish arrests. Going so far as to try to pin the Black Dahlia murder on an innocent party by torturing a group of men into confession, Fritz's nastiest act is revealed to be the time he raped an entire brothel of women out of spite because he contracted syphilis while sleeping with hookers. Fritz spread the STD to all of the women he raped, and even blinded two of his victims by rubbing his infected genitalia on their eyes.
- Jerkass Woobie: Bucky is violent and a ruthless opportunist who does plenty of morally questionable things, but it's hard not to feel sorry for him. He had an abusive childhood, struggles with some sort of mental illness, and is heartbrokenwhen he realizes he was manipulated by Kay and Blanchard, the only people he genuinely cared about.
- Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Follows Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard investigating the murder of Elizabeth Short. The reveal was that she was murdered by a serial killer that, at one point, Bleichert had a relationship with. Bucky and Blanchard themselves are Antihero protagonists who engage in Police Brutality and one is covering up the Black Dahlia murderer's identity for money.
The Film
- Better on DVD: Arguably all of the confusion people complained about when it was released is cleared up if you watch it with subtitles, as much of the explanations for what happens comes from dialogue and narration that's either spoken quickly or otherwise doesn't call much attention to itself.
- Broken Base: Whether the movie was criminally cut short or whether the movie as is suffers from horrendous overacting as well as Narm that wouldn't be improved by more of it.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Although Mia Kirshner is playing the titular character, she's not in the film much. She has about twenty minutes of screentime, but is easily the most memorable thing about the film. Even when it was panned, Kirshner received heaps of praise for her performance.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Rose McGowan playing a bit player in a film who insists that she's broken into the industry. Years later, it would of course become headline news that Harvey Weinstein had blacklisted her from Hollywood after sexually assaulting her.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- It turns out Lee and Kay is a Rescue Romance. So Harvey Two-Face rescues Black Widow eh?
- Also related to her playing Black Widow, the fact that in this film she has a romance with someone nicknamed "Bucky."
- Hollywood Homely: Martha in the book was described as overweight with acne, here she is played by the slender and smooth-skinned Rachel Miner. The problem is that the other characters still treat her as unattractive, or at least not as beautiful as Hilary Swank who just happens to dress more provocatively. Emmett Linscott describes Madeleine as his "pretty one" and later Madeleine herself proclaims that "Martha has always been jealous of me"! The whole thing comes across as an Informed Flaw at best…
- Just Here for Godzilla: For some, Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short is the only reason to watch the movie.
- Narm:
- Fiona Shaw's bizarrely over the top portrayal of Madeleine's mother makes sense in context but is so pantomime ridiculous it's hilarious.
- When Kay catches Dwight kissing Madeleine and chews him out for kissing someone who looks like "that dead girl". This is hilarious due to the Alleged Lookalikes nature (see below), but the fact that she can pick up on the resemblance from at least ten feet away requires some very big suspension of disbelief.
- The massive lesbian nightclub with its incredibly rich clientele and public floor shows that seem at odds with life in the 1940s.
- Narm Charm: Hilary Swank's performance is a bit over the top but that's part of the appeal.
- One-Scene Wonder:
- The Sassy Black Woman prostitute accompanying a suspect in the case.
- Also, Rose McGowan as a movie extra Lee questions.
- One True Threesome: How Bucky describes the friendship between him, Blanchard and Kay.Bucky: (voiceover) Always she'd be there. Never between us. Always in the middle.
- Questionable Casting:
- Given that a key plot point is how much Elizabeth and Madeleine resemble each other, and considering Mia Kirschner and Hilary Swank look about as much alike as Mia Farrow and Hilary Duff... well.
- The movie also kind of splits this down the middle with our four main leads. Aaron Eckhart and Scarlett Johansson fit rather well into a noir murder mystery. Josh Hartnett and Hilary Swank? Not so much.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- Despite being called The Black Dhalia, the movie surprisingly focuses very little on the actual Black Dahlia murder, or at least what facts we know about it in real life. By the time you get to the lesbian bars and Fiona Shaw's unhinged exposition, you'll be wondering what any of this has to do with anything. It's worth noting that the original cut ran three hours, with James Ellroy's approval (he had seen an advance cut before it was chopped down).
- Given how well-received Mia Kirshner's performance as Elizabeth Short was, to the point of claims that she overshadowed the main cast, it's clear a movie revolving around just her was more than possible.
- Tough Act to Follow: This film was hyped up considerably following the well-received adaptation of L.A. Confidential as the next adaptation of a James Ellroy neo-noir book. It ultimately was viewed as a huge disappointment.
- The Woobie: Poor Elizabeth Short. The audition video shows such a tragic girl who so desperately wants to be a movie star, but never got a part because she was so bad at it.
