J. Edgar - (November 9, 2011): R
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #5 with $11,217,324
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $11,315,858
Gross Revenue: $11,315,858
Production Budget: $35 million
Director: Clint Eastwood
Now, I know that some of the first associations that come to mind when someone mentions Clint Eastwood include Dirty Harry and classic Westerns, but when you stop to consider titles like Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Gran Torino, it is clear that the Academy Award winner is an insanely talented director. Then there’s Leonardo DiCaprio, who consistently charms audiences with high quality titles like Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island, and Inception…it is really a shame that, to date, the young actor has never received Oscar accolades for his work. Needless to say, putting these two together for a biographical drama that would be released at the beginning of the normally awards-heavy Holiday Movie Season virtually guaranteed critical success and early Oscar buzz. As a fan of both Hollywood powerhouses and someone familiar with the various conspiracy theories surrounding the late FBI director, I was sold and understandably curious about J. Edgar, but I wasn’t convinced that a required level of mass appeal was necessarily present. Perhaps Warner Bros. could have further leveraged the talent present (which included veterans like Judie Dench and Naomi Watts, not to mention rising stars like The Social Network’s Armie Hammer) in this newest drama to sell audiences, but I still had high hopes for the success of J. Edgar.
As the film title suggests, J. Edgar follows the career of the controversial founder/director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio), from his early days championing criminal procedure to his descent into paranoia and controversy. The central framing device for the film is the elderly Hoover dictating his memoir to younger FBI agents, and as such, the narrative regularly transitions from focusing on the title character in his 20’s and in his 60’s. The film begins with the young Hoover being placed in charge of a new bureau of investigation after several Bolshevik and anarchist bombings (leading to the Palmer Raids), and as such he begins championing revolutionary new tactics in evidence collection and fingerprint science. Hiring an ambitious second-in-command, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), and a dedicated young administrative assistant, Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts), Hoover’s power begins to grow as his organization investigates the infamous Lindbergh Kidnapping, and as time passes, the FBI gains more and more Federal privilege. Hoover’s personal life, which includes a complicated relationship with both his mother, Anna Marie (Judi Dench), and Tolson, begins to influence his increasingly ruthless blackmailing tactics in the name of protecting the country, which includes “personal files” of historical figures like Eleanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., none of whom are immune to the FBI director’s legacy.
It should come as no surprise that the best part of J. Edgar is the phenomenal performance of Leonardo DiCaprio, who completely disappears into his character and ably portrays Hoover across different stages of life and emotional ranges. However, there are certain aspects of his strong acting that bring other shortcomings of the film to life, the most prevalent involving Hoover’s closeted homosexuality and the relationships he shared with Tolson and his mother. For instance, Armie Hammer’s inexperience as an actor is thrown into the spotlight when he stands next to DiCaprio and both are in heavy makeup to appear elderly…where DiCaprio makes a natural transition, Hammer is clearly out of place and overacts in a failed attempt to compensate. Then there are Hoover’s mommy-issues played out alongside Judi Dench…DiCaprio brings the complex suppression and emotional torment to life, but the interaction ends up echoing Norman Bates a little too strongly. With such complicated acting and relationship dynamics at play, the narrative should have seamlessly kept everything flowing, but in that task the film falls short.
In true award-winning biographical dramas, the story is just as memorable and enjoyable as the actors who inhabit the movie world, but in the case of J. Edgar, the confusing and tedious plot ends up being something of a chore. Continuously transitioning between two timelines in one film is risky, and while the formula worked for a while, it almost seems like Eastwood lost his perceived balance, as the story becomes thoroughly confusing and the sequence of events is eventually near-impossible to keep straight. Also, at nearly two and a half hours, J. Edgar is not the kind of film you can approach casually or without significant determination…I myself dozed once or twice, and a true high caliber film cannot sacrifice that kind of energy. With such a taxing and serious story, this film understandably only appeals to a very select audience, so I don’t expect younger moviegoers to jump at the chance to learn more about the early years of the FBI. All in all, J. Edgar is a good film, but it should be taken with a grain of salt, as it makes no glaring errors, but takes significant cognitive effort to enjoy properly.
From a box office perspective, J. Edgar has been decidedly underwhelming, only opening in fifth place and failing to draw audiences away from Immortals or Jack and Jill with a paltry $11 million, which is especially sad considering the A-level talent present. I mentioned that the film likely had limited appeal, but I still expected DiCaprio to draw a slightly stronger crowd…lord knows he deserves more attention than Adam Sandler. Now normally, one of these early Oscar-favorites would generate massive word of mouth, but as I said earlier, there is nothing overtly memorable present or worthy of must-see status. Warner Bros. might actually have trouble recovering a $35 million budget, but hopefully DiCaprio can get on the books with some Oscar accolades. Historical buffs will get a kick out of J. Edgar, but for more casual moviegoers, your time at the theater will be better spent somewhere else.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
