It seems legal concerns possibly steered the filmmakers away from exploring a more substantial portion of James Dean's existence, resulting in a focus on a fairly dull period and featuring performances that are truly forgettable, ultimately creating an experience that’s incredibly slow-moving. Dane DeHaan portrays a young actor vying for a role with celebrated director Nicholas Ray (Peter Lucas), a part that could be career-defining – if studio head Sam Goldwyn (Sir Ben Kingsley) approves. The anticipation is clearly stressful for Dean. Simultaneously, Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson), an up-and-coming magazine photographer, has persuaded his editor (Joel Edgerton) to let him do a story on this hopeful actor. Both men carry their own burdens, and it’s suggested that these might help them connect and form a bond of friendship or even trust. Given the idea that a photograph can convey volumes, perhaps we should simply fast-forward to the iconic black-and-white images of Dean smoking cigarettes and bypass this uninspired, talky film featuring two actors who demonstrate absolutely no connection with each other as it just drags on for nearly two hours, revealing essentially nothing new about Dean and highlighting how unremarkable Pattinson can be when he’s not simply providing visual appeal. It's less a story about life and more an absence of anything worthwhile.

Source on TMDB