Review No.31: J. Edgar

Usually appearing in a biopic is a key to Oscar success and usually you're guaranteed at least a nomination however this year it seems that in the actor category the Academy Awards have bucked that trend with only Brad Pitt nominated for playing a real-life character. That's bad news then for Leo DiCaprio who was hoping to get another Oscar nod for his turn as infamous FBI head honcho J Edgar Hoover in a film directed by Academy favourite Clint Eastwood however that wasn't to be. The film is split into two parts one in which Hoover is narrating his autobiography to Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl and the other which follows his ascension to the position and his relationship with his deputy Clyde Tolson. The suggestion is made throughout that Hoover and Tolson are lovers but despite a declaration of love their relationship never blossoms mainly due to Edgar's mother, a great turn from Judi Dench, who tells him that she'd rather have a dead son than a gay one. The other recurring theme is that of Hoover's inflated ego and his belief that he had been involved in a lot more arrests than he actually had been so when Tolson confronts him towards the end of the film our belief in the story that Edgar has been narrating changes. The main case featured is of the kidnapping and later death of the Lindbergh baby and Hoover's involvement in that investigation but once again his personal life clouds his judgment.

A lot of what's good about J. Edgar can be found in its actors namely DiCaprio who over the past few years has proved himself to be a reliable actor and his performance here is reminiscent of the one he gave in The Aviator. Equally as impressive is Arnie Hammer who is known to most as the twins in The Social Network here he only has to worry about playing one character and he seems more comfortable playing the unspoken relationship between Hoover and Tolsen. If anybody was going to get an Oscar nod I feel it was Judi Dench her Mrs Hoover is a mixture of the mother from The Manchurian Candidate and Lady MacBeth and it is the only character that I have seen her play recently that has any substance to it. Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives as Eastwood's direction here seems to be both long-winded and a little big short-sighted. There are only a couple of references to Hoover's penchant for dressing in women's clothes and I also found this very episodic rather than entertaining. Another point of note is the make-up as in the final scenes both DiCaprio and Hammer don a large amount of old-man prosthetics and neither looks particularly convincing. It's a shame that this film wasn't nominated for any awards but after watching it I'm not that surprised that it hasn't.

Verdict: Some brilliant performances are marred by poor direction and shoddy make-up so at the most I can give this 6/10