Written by Linda
February 23, 2012
For a movie that features gangsters, communists, wire-tapping, and cross-dressing, J. Edgar manages turn an intriguing life into a plodding biopic.
OK, so by all possible counts, J. Edgar Hoover was an old sourpuss who got a certain glee out of obsessively tracking people and information, both public and private. Here is a man who took a woman on a first date to the Library of Congress to show off the card catalog indexing system that he invented (OK, at least *I* thought that was a hot first date). He also wined and dined with the famous, and was one of the most powerful men in the country—some say second only to the President of the United States (or eight Presidents, to be exact). So how could a biopic about "Edgar" (as he preferred to be called), be dull?
Perhaps this film is just too careful. Director Clint Eastwood, who has certainly made some excellent films lately, seems as careful around his subject as screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (who won an Oscar for his screenplay of Milk). It is almost like you *want* a sleazefest, as the supposedly closeted J. Edgar (played over a span of 50 or so years by Leonardo DiCaprio) destroyed lives around him due to his own prejudices, despite his own hidden (or not so hidden) lifestyle with his work and life partner Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). But anything controversial is treated delicately and with a solemn respect, making Hoover feel more like a power-hungry pity-case rather than a monster, as many felt he was.
DiCaprio is one of the few actors that can pass himself off as a 20-something youngster. Hoover is introduced to us in 1919, when the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia is creating communist sympathies in the U.S. This gets young Edgar riled up, and he quickly moves up in his government job because of his anti-communist passion, earnestness, and obsession for detail—as well as for the fact that he has no personal life. Next thing you know, the young man is heading the new department that would become the F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation). He quickly shapes his team, which includes recruiting a handsome young man, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), who becomes his right-hand man, in more ways than one.
J. Edgar depicts milestones in the man's life, from marketing the "G-Man" as hero in the times of gangsters, to the investigation of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's child, to the wiretapping and secret surveillance of Presidents. Interspersed is some character development of his relationships with his partner Clyde Tolson, his lifelong secretary Helen Grandy (Naomi Watts), and his mother (Judi Dench) that he lived with until her death. But, in the film, this timeline is ploddingly relayed by Hoover recounting his life's stories to an biographer who dutifully types up his monologue. Old-age-makeup-Hoover flashes back to younger-Hoover, with yet another chronological vignette of yet another point in his illustrious life. As the decades slowly go by in the flashbacks, with DiCaprio's, Hammer's, and Watts' makeup getting progressively cheesier, you can't help but look at your watch.
J. Edgar is an ambitious biopic that just never takes off. Occasionally, you get glimpses of the movie it could have—or should have—been. For instance, when Edgar interviews the handsome, intelligent, but not really qualified Clyde for the job, the careful interplay between the two hints at their future relationship (and Hammer is simply lovely in the role). Also, there is a scene between Edgar and his mother, where she coldly explains her disapproval of men who act as "daffodils". What is not said in the scene completely shapes and explains the relationship between the two, so that by the time Edgar tries on his mother's dress, there is no hint of exploitation or mockery.
I just wish there were more moments like these in J. Edgar. Instead, we get a dull, plodding, and carefully respectful portrayal of a man who, according to the history books, was anything but that.
BLU-RAY NOTES
The only extra on the Blu-Ray is an 18-minute featurette called J. Edgar: The Most Powerful Man in the World. Eastwood, DiCaprio, and other cast and crew talk about the real J. Edgar, as well as the character portrayed in the film. Original footage of Hoover sparks up the proceedings, but otherwise it is pretty typical stuff.
