This is perhaps one of the most painful reviews I have ever
had the displeasure of writing as I am a humongous, with a capital U, fan of
Clint Eastwood who has moved from entertainment icon to true Hollywood legend. Eastwood has a litany of films that are genuinely powerful, engaging, and amazingly
crafted, this is not one of them. Instead,
first time director, Robert Lorenz brings us a sappy and predictable feel-good
story that lacks any passion or authenticity. Eastwood and Adams performances are tired at
first, forced by mid picture, and cartoonish by the end. Add in Justin Timberlake, who has no business
in any form of theater whether it by stage or silver screen, and you have one deeply
disappointing film. The story takes too
long to get to its point and by the time it does you have lost all interest. If not, you are absolutely unimpressed by its
conclusion. I like happy endings in
films, especially in this overtly cynical world, however, I expect films with
that ambition to be well written, directed, and acted and constructed in such a way where that
ending makes sense and is not unduly gooey. Eastwood is a master of his trade so I cannot
figure out for the life of me what possessed him to make this movie. Even in his 80s he is a far better actor than
anyone in Hollywood of any age and one of the most gifted directors of our
time. Which again makes this review difficult
to document and this movie hard to digest.
To sum up, using a baseball analogy, if
this movie was a pitcher the least of his troubles would have been the curve. 1 out of 5 kernels: you’ll have to forgive me, but I can't bare to
give one of my lifelong heroes a goose egg.
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