Adorkable: Ed's boundless optimism, never-say-die attitude, passion for film-making and fanboying of Bela Lugosi make him positively endearing.
Alternative Character Interpretation: While the film plays loosely with history throughout, it's also been described as "the kind of biopic Ed Wood would have made for himself." Everything that happens after Ed storms out of the Plan 9 shoot in drag is completely made up: he certainly didn't meet Orson Welles and the movie definitely didn't have such a lavish, heavily publicized premiere. Is the film simply being kind to Ed by giving him a happy ending he could only wish he'd ever get, is the film supposed to be Ed's memories and he's remembering them in more flattering ways than they happened or, considering that Wood was an alcoholic and immediately goes to a bar, is it all just a drunken stupor?
Award Snub: One of Johnny Depp's best performances wasn't nominated for an Academy Award. Also, the gorgeous black and white cinematography was snubbed.
Cult Classic: A huge hit with critics, Ed Wood aficionados and movie buffs, most of whom have dubbed it one of the best movies about filmmaking, but was a massive acclaimed flop upon release.
Fair for Its Day: The film has a fair bit of Deliberate Values Dissonance, such as Ed being asked if he's a "fruit" or a "fag" when he mentions his cross-dressing, and Bunny's openness about his hypothetical sex change is Played for Laughs. Despite this, LGBTQ characters are otherwise depicted in a largely unassuming light, with both the narrative and heteronormative characters treating them with relative normalcy which was unthinkable in the 1950s and only slightly less so in the 1990s. As mentioned on the trivia page, the popularity of this film elevated the real Ed Wood to an LGBTQ icon, although he was not gay.
Genius Bonus: Bela Lugosi's anti-Karloff rant at one point shows shades of this. In the first few centuries of British royalty, it was considered an honour to be able to smell the King's shit; the groom of the stool was among the select few to have that honour.
Juliet also appears in the film as Loretta King, who famously claimed to be allergic to all liquids.
The two main stars of the film are named Ed and Bela. The latter of which is an actor famous for playing a vampire. 11 years later when a book series called Twilight stars two characters named Edward and Bella, the former of which is a "vampire." Of course, that Bella was named after the real Bela, but the fact that her "hero" is named Edward is a hell of a coincidence.
Ed and his ragtag crew having to flee from the cops before they're caught shooting their No Budget film on location without a permit. This is exactly how π was made — and, for that matter, The Room, which just adds a further layer of hilarity to the comparisons between Wood and Tommy Wiseau.
Dolores Fuller, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, questions if she really has a face like a horse, 14 years before a blog post comparing Parker's face to an actual horse and subsequent South Park jokes were made.
Ed complains that studios are always wanting to cast their buddies in films; director Tim Burton has been known to work (almost exclusively on occasion) with his Production Posse (Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter (and before her, Lisa Marie) Christopher Lee (who is also famous for portraying a popular fictional vampire), Winona Ryder etc.) Also Ed notes that sometimes these people aren't even right for the part, which matches criticisms that Burton miscast Depp and Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Values Resonance: Deliberate Values Dissonance notwithstanding, the movie has a very accepting attitude towards its LGBTQ characters. Ed and Bunny are portrayed with humanity and sympathy by the narrative and the heteronormative characters. While only slightly less unheard of today, it wasn't common for mainstream comedies in the nineties to be anywhere near this kind to gay or gender-nonconforming characters (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, with its infamous "Einhorn is a man!" scene, was released only a few months before this film, and the rest of the decade wasn't much kinder).
Vindicated by History: When released, this wrecked Tim Burton's golden streak and made people doubt him and Johnny Depp. Today it's considered one of his best works and one of Depp's best performances.
Ed himself. Particularly in the film, you can see that he has a genuine passion and love for movies, and wants desperately to make his own films, and have people love them, not for the money, but just because it's what he loves, and he wants to share his love with people. Sadly for him, the one thing he has passion for in his life, he has absolutely no talent at. Imagine being terrible at the one thing you love. Sort of breaks your heart.
Bela Lugosi. Full stop. By the end of his life, he was a mess, and was stuck in horrible B movies, strung out on drugs, alcohol, and painful withdrawal. Landau's performance really helps here too.
Dolores. While she may be harsh at times and is not readily accepting of Ed's crossdressing, she makes valid points about Ed Wood's production shoddiness and he is unintentionally insensitive to her. She holds in all her stress in so Ed can finish his movie.
