Lulling J. Edgar trips Leonardo DiCaprio's earnest performance as FBI Chief.
Clint Eastwood's biopic J. Edgar, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as controversial F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover, may have the shiny wrapping of an awards-season, prestige movie but it's one of the biggest disappointments of this or any year.
Hoover is fascinating, conflicted and complicated and Eastwood leaves no doubt about Hoover's skill in political dealings with numerous presidents and attorney generals like Robert F. Kennedy.
Armie Hammer makes great use of his country club good looks as Clyde Tolson, the longtime protégé and lover to DiCaprio's FBI Director but none of that matters when the storytelling unfolds like molasses and offers camp moments instead of compelling drama.
The homosexual component of Hoover's life and his relationship with Tolson play important parts in the movie but the scenes come off as shrill instead of sympathetic due to the disastrous script.
Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for the political drama Milk before directing his own movie What's Wrong with Virginia and scripting the Allen Ginsburg drama Howl, takes a sprawling 50-year story and makes it even more cumbersome and lethargic.
DiCaprio gives his all as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in terms of make-up effects and capturing a difficult man's despicable obsession with political power.
DiCaprio manages some subtle moments of sympathy as Hoover but the clumsy storytelling squashes his efforts.
As Tolson, Armie Hammer enjoys a bloody lip kiss with DiCaprio but the scene is pure camp instead of emotionally moving.
Hammer, so amazing as the Winklevoss twins in last year's The Social Network, becomes little more than a mannequin painted with layers of old age makeup by the conclusion of J. Edgar.
Josh Lucas makes little contribution other than cutting a dashing figure as Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator who crosses paths with Hoover over the kidnapping of his baby.
Naomi Watts comes off the best as Hoover's loyal assistant Helen Gandy. Watts is practically unrecognizable as the pretty assistant who matches Hoover's burning sense of duty to the bureau.
Judi Dench is perfectly cruel and cold as Hoover's domineering mother who tells her son it's his sole responsibility to repair the family's reputation.
J. Edgar is about Hoover, Tolson and their fellow G-Men but it's the films female characters that shine brightest.
Eastwood understands storytelling and performance as much as cinematography and all the technical aspects of moviemaking so it's doubly disappointing that he fails to make a movie equal to Hoover's story.
Hereafter, his mixed drama about the afterlife; shows Eastwood as willing to tackle different stories from the director's chair. J. Edgar is a long way from The Rookie and The Outlaw Jose Wales. It's also one of Eastwood's biggest missteps and an unqualified letdown.
Luckily, talented people like Eastwood and DiCaprio dust themselves off and push forward to future projects. There's little doubt they'll bounce back. Although people will be debating about what went so terribly wrong with J. Edgar for a very long time.
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Clint Eastwood
Scriptwriter: Dustin Lance Black
Cinematographer: Tom Stern
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Production Designer: James J. Murakami Running Time: __ minutes
Producers: Imagine Entertainment, Malpaso Productions, Wintergreen Productions
Rating: Rated R
Release Date: November 9, 2011