Powerhouse performances can only take a film so far. Cheesy makeup and a disorienting storyline manage to drag this one down. Disappointment, thy name is J. Edgar.J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the young, brash leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He's never really been on the front lines, but he makes sure the public believes he has. Hoover's life and career follows an unexpected path, but all of it seems to revolve around how his mother (Judi Dench) feels. He soon hires Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) as his personal secretary and Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) as, basically, an assistant and confidant. In the midst of a congressional inquiry, Hoover takes on the now-infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Hoover sees this as an opportunity for the FBI, but the case gets bungled early and a lack of resources ultimately does it in. The result of the Lindbergh case puts a damper on his relationships, both personally and professionally. He may never recover from them. Throw in clashes with presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, it's amazing Hoover's career lasted as long as it did.
While I thought the plot included several points in Hoover's life that I wanted to know about, it moved around in such a disjointed way that it was sometimes hard to follow, or even care about. DiCaprio was great as usual and Armie Hammer gave a stellar performance that may give the awards recognition he missed for The Social Network. But, again, watching the older Hoover and Tolson act through that terrible makeup and dark lighting was really difficult. It took me out of the movie completely. I can't recommend J. Edgar, but I'm not going to stop anyone from seeing this. Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment