J. EDGAR
R
137 Minutes
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer
Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Leonardo DiCaprio | J. Edgar Hoover |
| Josh Hamilton | Robert Irwin |
| Geoff Pierson | Micheal Palmer |
| Cheryl Lawson | Palmer's Wife |
| Kaitlyn Dever | Palmer's Daughter |
| Ed Westwick | Agent Smith |
| Naomi Watts | Helen Gandy |
| Jack Donner | Edgar's Father |
| Judi Dench | Edgar's Mother |
| Dylan Burns | Edgar as a child |
| Jack Axelrod | Caminetti |
| Josh Stamberg | Agent Stokes |
| Armie Hammer | Clyde Tolson |
Look the list of actors. Armie Hammer, that name sound familiar. He is actually related to the baking soda guy.
John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, John Lennon, Martin Luther King. Throughout his career, he stalked kept secret files of all these gentleman.
While we are on the subject of Martin Luther King. In elementary school, we were singing in choir class:
There was a man named Martin–Martin Luther King.
You can see where I'm going with this. The school's only black teacher caught me saying, 'Fartin' Luther King'.
Back to the Movie
'Hypocrisy, dishonesty, hatred, all of these must be destroyed and men must rule by love, charity, and mercy.'
-J. Edgar Hover
Here was a man of courage and conviction. Solid in his purpose, never wavering in the fierce, storms of public opinion.
Clyde Tolson (Hammer), his partner in crime, and partner in life. And yes, as it turns out, FBI stands for Federal Booty Inspector.
In many ways, J. EDGAR is like the second GODFATHER (1974) movie. A man drunk with power, ruling his empire with an iron fist, alienating those close to him. Chronologically, it moves both forward and backward. There is no problem with the content, just the way it is organized, the pacing was a tad off. The scenes of younger Hoover always worked better than those of Hoover as an old man.
Judi Dench is like Maggie Smith: she knows how to play a bitch, and a most effective one. In J. Edgar, she plays Annie Hoover, his mother.
This is not my imagination: Christopher Shyer and Dennis Quaid look similar.
Nixon is played by Christopher Shyer, but from my 'vantage point' it definitely looked like Dennis Quaid. Good thing I didn't storm out of the theater in a fit of anger.
Hoover is five years older than Tolson. When the two become old men, Tolson looks like he is 115 years old, prosthetics and the old age make-up is not done very well. Kind of like the end of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS. It's 19 years later, Harry Potter is 40 years old, but all I see on him is a patchy, almost non-existant, five o'clock shadow.
A biopic is like a painted portrait, it can epitomize the essence of one person. Politics aside, on a personal level, Hoover must have been an absolute bore.
Would this be one of my reviews if I didn't reference cartoons or rap lyrics? The answer to this rhetorical question is a definite no.
Hello, my name is Marge Simpson and I painted this.
Maybe you'd like to know what possessed me.
I guess I wanted to show that beneath Mr. Burns' fearsome head.
With its cruel lips, spiteful tongue and evil brain.
There was a frail, withered body, perhaps not long for this world.
As vulnerable and beautiful as any of God's creatures.
THE SIMPSONS, 'Brush With Greatness'
Final Verdict: 87 out of 100
