J Edgar

So a historical drama about J. Edgar Hoover, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and directed by Clint Eastwood. You'd think that this would be a slam dunk of a movie and would be one of the leading contenders for Oscar season in 2011.

Well you'd be very wrong.

J. Edgar follows the story of the title character, J. Edgar Hoover (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). The movie serves as a biopic of his career in becoming the first director of the FBI and the milestones of his career.

The film jumps back and forth between Hoover as an older man in the 50's and 60's, most namely the JFK and the Nixon Presidency, and jumps back to Hoover as a younger man when he first forms the FBI in the 1920s.

The movie has a couple of huge events that happened in the life of Hoover, including his raids and mass deportations on communist sympathizers and revolutionaries in the United State. The story also spends a lot of time on the investigation of the Lindburgh baby kidnapping in 1932, and his crackdown on crime in the United States like bank robberies. A lot happened between the 1920s when Hoover first started the FBI and when he died in 1972 and the movie paints a really broad picture of those events.

Furthermore, they really delve into the character of J. Edgar and this actually could have been a really interesting part of the movie. They do make mention that he held onto his position for so long because he kept on fighting a war of information and he always had information on people, both allies and enemies. He had dirt on the Kennedys, he had dirt on the Roosevelts, he had dirt on Martin Luther King Jr. He was always planning his next move and trying to keep himself in power. Now the movie does touch a little bit on his legacy and how a lot of his legacy is just his showmanship and his ability to sell his legacy and the legacy of the bureau when in reality, it's not as glamorous as it's made out to be. They touch on that a little bit but not nearly as much as they should have. I'll talk a little bit more about it when I delve into Leo's performance.

The other part of the movie that they delve into is the different relationships Hoover had during his life.

He grows up with this manipulative mother (played by Judi Dench) that was always expecting the most out of him even when he couldn't really deliver. He had a strange but confidential relationship with his secretary (played by Naomi Watts), which in the movie they play it off like he tried to court her but both of them were too invested in the creation of the Bureau for families in general.

And then they delve into the relationship of him and Clyde Tolson (played by Armie Hammer).

Now listen, part of the fun of these historical dramas is that you get to delve into the lives of historical figures and learn things that you didn't know.

This movie suggests that Hoover had a relationship with a man named Clyde Tolson and it's suggested that they may have had romantic feelings towards one another.

Now based on the research I've done on Hoover (basically just looked on Wikipedia) the true nature of Hoover's sexuality is really unconfirmed. Some people said he was gay, some people said he was straight and Tolson and him were just the best of friends, some say that Hoover never had any sexual desires at all. It's really hard to tell.

I thought that the movie did a decent job at saying Tolson was gay (which I'm not even sure if that was confirmed) and leaving Hoover's sexuality up to interpretation. I think that was probably the best approach to keep the question open and not give a definitive answer. They also kind of do the same with the rumors that Hoover was a cross dresser. They more give a nod to the concept and it really only comes up once.

I don't know, a part of me thinks about the family and wouldn't want a movie to say something about a historical figure that wasn't true, but at the same time kind of riding the line on something controversial is not nearly as exciting as making a true blown out statement. It's a confusing decision and Eastwood doesn't really win in any scenario, but hey Hoover was a confusing guy.

But let's talk about Leo's performance. This was one of the movies that the big Leo fans pointed to before it came out and they thought this was going to be his break and his chance to win an Oscar. (Because nobody else deserved an Oscar more than Leo did apparently)

And here's the thing. It's a good performance. I'm not gonna sit here and say that Leo didn't do a good job portraying J. Edgar Hoover. I think he hit all the right emotions and he made me invested in a character with his performance.

Unfortunately, Leo was not helped by the way this character was written. Hoover did a lot of good things for this country but he also did a lot of shifty things and he's kind of a divisive character in American history. I honestly wasn't sure if I was supposed to like this character or hate him. And while Leo gave a really good performance, I can't say there was really a strong character that anchored the audience.

Maybe Tolson or Helen Gandy, his secretary, but the entire movie is set with the background that Hoover is writing his memoirs to get his side of the story out and kind of fluff up his legacy. But again, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to root for him or if I'm supposed to despise this character. It was just a confusing role.

Again, Leo does a good job, but his motivations are a little bit scrambled and don't make a lot of sense.

And that's kind of the case for the entire movie.

This entire film is supposed to be a biopic of Hoover's life and his time as the director of the FBI. Now, I've discussed this before with biopics in that it is hard to staple down one specific thing about someone's life and tie it all together with a message. The truth is, almost everyone's life doesn't have a particular message to it and it's not always defined by something as simply as a movie like The Butler is tying Cecil Gaines life to the Civil Rights movement. There were a lot of facets of the life of J. Edgar Hoover and they don't always connect.

But Clint Eastwood structures this movie in such a weird sense that even if you're trying to portion off parts of Hoover's life to tell a comprehensive story, it doesn't always work. At one point their talking about Hoover's investigation into the Lindberg kidnapping, then they talk about his relationship with the Kennedys. Then they talk about his relationship with Clyde Tolson, then they go back to the Lindberg kidnapping. If it had been about one thing or had a cohesive structure to tie it all together, combined with Leonardo DiCaprios sheer talent, I think this would have been a higher caliber movie. But as it is, it's a little bit of a jumbled mess.

And on a very small note, the prosthetics and make up to make these people older is really kind of terrible. If the other things would have been fixed, something small like that wouldn't have bothered me. But when larger things have issues, you start seeing the problems with the little things. The prosthetics, and the lighting of the whole movie.

THE WHOLE MOVIE IS SO F-ING DARK.

There are just so many scenes in unnecessary darkness and you think it's just because its the early 1900s and there wasn't a lot of electricity and maybe it will get better, but it doesn't.

I have usually been a huge fan of Clint Eastwood's work but this was definitely a let down and it's a shame because it's a very interesting topic.

But overall, I don't think J. Edgar is really a film you need to check out. I hope someone comes along and does a better biopic on J. Edgar Hoover, but for now we have this and if you really want to learn about J. Edgar Hoover, watch something else.

But those are my thoughts on J. Edgar. What did you think? Comment and Discuss in the comments below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a video of Leo talking about the make up process and it's a shame because the make up in this movie was really not that good. Enjoy!