Summary
When security guard Richard Jewell spots and alerts authorities to a bomb at the Atlanta Olympic Games, he becomes the target of a media and FBI investigation desperate to find a culprit.
The Film
Clint Eastwood (“Gran Torino,” 2008) is a hit or miss director for me. His style is often a bit more detached from the subject for my liking, which is saying a lot for a reviewer like me who enjoys his slow Bergman, Bresson, and Tarkovsky films. I think because Eastwood tends to be slow and process focused rather than using detachment to drive introspection, I often think his films are a little longer than they need to be, spending time on scenes and facts that, in my opinion, could be removed from the movie all together.
“Richard Jewell” is no exception to this tendency but it is less of an offender than many of his other films. On the whole, I enjoyed the film far more than I thought I might. The main draw for me was the lead performer Paul Walter Hauser (“I, Tonya,” 2017). He was definitely the comic relief in “I, Tonya” so I was intrigued to see him do something dramatic, especially as the lead who has to carry the heart of a film.
On top of that interest, I remember the bombing at the Olympic Games but only just. I was still pretty young and didn’t understand or follow any of the aftermath so, depending on how accurate the film ended up being, this seemed like it would scratch the old fill-in-the-blanks-of-my-childhood-memory itch.
I couldn’t be more pleased with this film. It answered all my piqued interest and then some. First off, Hauser blew me away with his nuanced performance that never strayed so far into cliche’ acceptance or aversion that it fell off the tightrope necessary to feel like a real character but not just a stereo-typically written one. I can’t stress enough how much I appreciated this. In a day where I could see either side of our overly politicized division claiming the character as either a ‘True American Every-man Hero’ or a ‘Militaristic Incel White Failure to Launch Ignoramus,’ Jewell was portrayed, instead, as a real person who had many cliche’ signposts in his life but is also a really good person, even if he seems incredibly socially obtuse. Sort of the way most real people are. There are a lot of things about me that most people would chalk up to me being a white male but if they assume that is all there is to me, they are making a big mistake. That is sort of the lesson of “Richard Jewell.” A lot of people assume some things about him until they get to know him and realize who he really is.
For the most part, Paul Walter Hauser is leading an all star cast turning in great performances. Jon Hamm (“Baby Driver,” 2017) is OK, though he isn’t given much to work with. Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards…” 2017) and Kathy Bates (“Misery,” 1990) however, deliver stand out performances that really draw out the other characters in a way that doesn’t grab the spotlight but still dives deep enough into their characters to move you.
The one sorry spot in this cast is Olivia Wilde (“Tron Legacy,” 2019) as the reporter going after Jewell. I’m not sure if this is just the writing of the character or the over the top way she chose to perform it, but, in a movie that is all about not assuming things about Richard Jewell simply because he fits a profile, this film relies on cliche’ and over the top straw-person tactics to take down a ‘biased news woman’ who’ll do, screw, or say anything to get a front page story. It’s a shame that the film isn’t as fair to her as Jewell.
Those are my nitpicks though and I’ll stress nitpicks. Other than being a little longer by a scene or two than I felt was necessary and a poorly written journalist character this movie is more than worth your time if you have an interest in the bombing, the main actor, or just a good story about our prejudices and how we have to fight the temptation to judge without firsthand knowledge of those we are judging.
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