Peter
Bogdanovich had long been interested in making a film about the earliest days
of the movie industry. Nickelodeon has moments that express the
director’s deep love for and understanding of the movies, but overall his
dependence on rather uneffective slapstick comedy weakens the film
drastically. A plot that allowed for
more such moments of reverence and nostalgia might have worked better than two long
hours of Ryan O’Neal and Burt Reynolds acting wacky and falling down a
lot. Not a bad film, by any means, but
it feels too much like the work of megastars under the impression that they
could do no wrong. The recent DVD
release restores Bogdanovich’s intended black-and-white version of the film,
which helps convey its vintage milieu immensely.
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