Not a bad film!

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2001)

I'm surprised at some of the negative comments. I've frequently got the impression that people judge books, films, ... by what they expect rather than by what is presented to them. So the more you don't meet their expectations the more they dislike it. Why should we want to know what happens to the fat guy? He disappears. That's normal in life. It's perfectly clear to me why the daughter doesn't want to see him. I actually felt it was a distraction to mention she never visited him in jail.
This is the type of film that I definitely wouldn't have gone to see if it hadn't been shown in a sneak preview. And I'm glad I did see it now.
I think many of the complaints others made are due to the fact that this is based on a true story and it does come across as fairly "true" in some ways. In real life diaglogues are frequently flat and in real life characters are frequently one-dimensional. Also the structure is partly influenced by the fact that you have to cram a life time into roughly 2 hours. I think they do a fairly good job here.
The film is quite funny at the beginning but - predictably - George Jung's life turns sour. There's almost a classical tragedy about his fall as it is partly based on character faults. I really liked the ending - normally one of the more difficult parts in a film - because the dialogue with his daughter really pointed to one of those faults.