Review: J. Edgar

J. Edgar Review

By Sean Knight

Three Stars out of Four

Clint Eastwood’s latest Oscar baiting picture follows the story of infamous FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from his early career, to his astonishing rise in power, and ultimately to his death.  Eastwood is working from a screenplay by Oscar Winner Dustin Lance Black whom is a well-known gay rights advocate and the marriage between the two is awkward.  There were many rumors and innuendos throughout Hoover’s career about him being a closeted homosexual and a cross dresser.  This is fascinating stuff especially for a man who was in such a great position of power.  Black clearly wants to focus on these rumors to try and get to know the real J. Edgar.  The film’s central relationship is between Hoover and his long-term colleague and rumored life partner Clyde Tolson.  The issue is that Eastwood, a well-known conservative individual, seems uncomfortable with the material and while he is able to shape a few tender and touching moments, the base of the picture seems oddly disjointed.  It’s as if Eastwood couldn’t escape Black’s screenplay’s obvious heavy interest in Hoover’s closeted homosexual life, but also couldn’t connect it to the story Eastwood was more interested in telling – Hoover’s rise to power and formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

            The acting is uniformly excellent with Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover and Armie Hammer as Tolson as the real standouts of the piece.  They are able to act circles around Eastwood’s skittishness with the material, with every glance, gesture, and line reading adding significant weight to their relationship.  You believe quite strongly that these two men were in love.  The problem comes when Eastwood refuses to fully explore that love and you begin to wonder why in the hell Tolson would put up with Hoover’s grandstanding and selfishness for so many years if their relationship was clearly going nowhere. There is one fire charged scene where Tolson confronts Hoover and tells him to never mention one of his “lady friends” again.  I found myself wanting to tell Eastwood the same thing.  Judy Dench plays Hoover’s conservative and overbearing mother to great effect.  Dench gets to steal one of the best scenes in the piece where Hoover tries to come out to his mother by saying “I don’t like dancing with girls and I think it’s time you should know this” and her reply is a simple “I would rather have a dead son than a daffodil.”  It’s powerful stuff and one of the few times Eastwood and Black provide clear insight into why Hoover is who he is.  Naomi Watts also has an intriguing supporting role as Hoover’s longtime personal secretary and confidant.   There is some clue as to how Hoover and her both have a keen understanding of each other’s sexuality, but it is never really explored. It’s an underdeveloped role and a shame, as Watts doest quite a bit with such a little amount of screen time.

            The film’s look has the similar drab and drained colors that Eastwood has been using a lot as of late and I don’t think it does the picture any favors.  It’s not that the film is ugly, but it has an air of importance’s about it that screams “prestige picture”.  But in the end it just becomes a sort of gloomy haze covering the entire film.  Much has been noted about the make-up.  I will say that the make-up is very broad and not always life-like.  It’s as if the designers were going for an iconic (if caricature) look to the characters that didn’t always play out how they hoped.  What is miraculous is that both DiCaprio and Hammer as able to play through the thick as molasses prosthetics and deliver real heartfelt performances.  They make you look past the caricature and into the souls of these two conflicted human beings.

            I’m not quite as down on J. Edgar as many in the press have been.  There are some wonderful scenes in the film and the acting is solid all around (it would not surprise me a bit if DiCaprio was able to win his first Oscar from this performance).  But the disjointed feeling of the picture cannot be ignored.  If Eastwood wasn’t comfortable with the subject matter or didn’t want to deal with the alleged homosexuality of Hoover than why did he take on Black’s script? It’s a fatal flaw in what could have been a masterful film.  At the end of the film there is a fascinating scene where Tolson enters Hoover’s lair, so to speak, for the first time after he has died and we see all the eccentricities and contradictions that filled Hoover’s life.  If only Eastwood had opened that door earlier and fully explored what was in that room.  Now that is a film I would have liked to see.

J. Edgar

Directed By Clint Eastwood

Release Date: November 9^th, 2011

Run Time: 137 Minutes