{"id":19673,"date":"2019-12-12T14:09:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T22:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19673"},"modified":"2019-12-12T14:09:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T22:09:35","slug":"the-tale-of-richard-jewell-is-interesting-but-weakened-by-ill-advised-depictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19673","title":{"rendered":"The Tale of RICHARD JEWELL is Interesting, But Weakened by Ill-Advised Depictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Director Clint Eastwood\u2019s output has been a little spotty\nlately, with recent efforts like The Mule<\/em> making an unremarkable\nimpression on this reviewer and The 15:17 to Paris<\/em> ranking as one the\nweakest films in his entire catalog. The good news is that his latest, Richard\nJewell<\/em>, is a definite improvement over those two pictures, including some\nexcellent performances from the cast. So, it\u2019s unfortunate that with all the\ngood on display here, there are some issues still present, with one aspect of\nthe feature coming across as particularly misguided and malicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set primarily during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the\nfeature depicts the life of Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser), a security\nguard yearning to be a cop. While working at a concert venue in Centennial\nPark, the figure sees a bag and alerts his disbelieving co-workers. Those\nfamiliar with the story will know that the bomb goes off and tragedy strikes,\nbut not before Jewell is able to clear a significant portion of the area.\nInitially hailed as a hero, the oddball suddenly finds himself under suspicion\nfrom FBI agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm), who believes he fits the profile of a\nbomber. Reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) begins writing accusatory pieces\nas well. As the national media hones in on Jewell and his mother Barbara (Kathy\nBates), old acquaintance and lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) step in to\ndefend him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hauser, Bates and Rockwell are excellent here as the\nfriendly lead and his mother, completely unprepared to be put under the\nspotlight. As the tide turns and negative attention comes their way, Jewell\nattempts to put on a friendly and accommodating face with authorities that one\ncan see slowly eroding as things get worse and worse. And Rockwell is\nentertaining as the protagonist\u2019s lawyer, always frustrated by his client\u2019s\nna\u00efve reaction to the vultures circling around him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all well-performed characters that help give\naudiences a sense of what it is like to be surrounded and watched by\nauthorities and the media. And admittedly, beyond finally expressing his anger\nat being targeted, the character doesn\u2019t change or come to any major\nrevelations. Of course, this is a real story and there isn\u2019t much the\nfilmmakers can do about it. At least these talented performers make watching\nthem interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, the film\u2019s real problems lie in their antagonists.\nThe FBI agents investigating Jewell are rather one-note, doing nothing more\nthan being consistently hostile to Jewell. The worst offender is Kathy Scruggs.\nAs portrayed, this stand-in for all journalists following the case simply comes\nacross as an awful person. In fact, it\u2019s rather shocking to portray a real\nperson in this manner. Over the course of the film, she trades sexual favors\nfor story leads, prints malicious reports and behaves in a manner so horrendous\nthat it\u2019s rather shocking to witness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarkably, this is a real person being depicted and one wonders why the screenwriter would portray the reporter in this manner and not make them into a fictional character. It\u2019s certainly an ill-advised and slanderous depiction and one that is said to be a complete fabrication by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Their claims are easy to believe \u2013 no human being behaves in the manner this villain does in the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the end, there are plenty of commendable elements to Richard\nJewell<\/em>, including the three main leads and the relatable hardships one\nmight endure over the course of a lengthy government inquiry. Unfortunately,\nthere\u2019s also an exaggerated and ugly side to this film that seems to suggest\nall investigative reporters are horrible people who will literally do anything\nfor a story, and that FBI agents will happily give away classified information\nat the drop of a hat. These preposterous elements ultimately weaken an\notherwise impressive drama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Clint Eastwood\u2019s output has been a little spotty lately, with recent efforts like The Mule making an unremarkable impression on this reviewer and The 15:17 to Paris ranking as one the weakest films in his entire catalog. The good news is that his latest, Richard Jewell, is a definite improvement over those two pictures, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[131,197,1928,2789,4516,10969,11513,15349,15845,16997,16998,16999,17000,17566,23321],"class_list":["post-19673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-1996-olympics","tag-197","tag-atlanta","tag-biopic","tag-clint-eastwood","tag-jon-hamm","tag-kathy-bates","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-paul-walter-hauser","tag-richard-jewell","tag-richard-jewell-film-review","tag-richard-jewell-movie-review","tag-richard-jewell-review","tag-sam-rockwell","tag-true-story"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}