Crumbles under its own ambition for more

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2008)

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) is a single mother, raising a young son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), while working as a supervisor to a telephone operator agency. She leaves Walter at home when going to work one day, and find him to be lost upon her return. She calls the police, an investigation is launched, and she is reunited with her son months later. Only, she is convinced the child is an imposter, and is not her son.
I wanted to really enjoy Changeling. I always give Clint Eastwood a chance with his frequently Oscar-nominated films (having thoroughly enjoyed his last offering, Letters from Iwo Jima), but I am finding that I may be a little too lenient. Yet again, Eastwood gives us a movie that proves he has talent, but lacks the right formula to be considered as anything extraordinary.
While the basic story is there (a very interesting true one at that), it gets muddled into a deeper subplot of corruption, scandal and murder. It is not confusing in the least, but becomes frequently annoying. Once the film starts moving and Collins is reunited with her "son", it just loses its focus and starts swinging its hands into other things. Sure, they are integral to the film, but they feel so open-ended and thrown on that they look and sound superfluous when they first appear. A meeting between the integral characters Det. Ybarra (Michael Kelly) and Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) is set up as being merely scene filler, but only becomes important much later in the film. It is troublesome in every instance, and plagues the film from beginning to end.
What does not help is the film's running time. Clocking in at 141 minutes, Changeling feels about 20-30 minutes longer than it needs to be. When Eastwood is not hammering us over the head with how distraught and confused Collins is, he is packing on the emphasis on the near-superfluous items that become important only as the film draws to a close (or on scenes that were clumsily added in for an effect lacking any subtly). It feels like writer J. Michael Stracynski knew he had found a great story to tell, but had a few too many problems adapting it to screen. Why else would we have a wonky timeline, repetitive sequences, and all-too predictable moments that are meant to shock, but instead induce the audience to rolling their eyes? This is not meant to be a life lesson-style story, but merely a recreation of history. Stracynski, in his attempt to stay true to the source material, cuts very little out of his storyline, and the film suffers under its own weight because of it. Where it needs to be fast-paced, it drags its heels. When it needs to slow down and dwell on something shocking, time just flies by. Is there any real need to not know which way you want to play the film?
Jolie, as the main character, has seen better days and far superior performances. Yes, her exquisite acting chops are put to the test in some scenes, but a lot just require her to almost act beneath herself. We saw her as a struggling, very pregnant wife in A Mighty Heart, acting as journalist Mariane Pearl. While by no means a great movie, Heart gave a great means for Jolie to express herself in a depressingly serious role, allowing her to pull on heart strings and prove she is not just a one-trick pony turned paparazzi fodder. But here, where she plays a very similar role, she seems to be merely aping off her old performances. Shades of Pearl are obvious, and shades of her Oscar-winning turn in Girl, Interrupted are even more noticeable. She just seems incapable of giving any real means of attention to the part, and looks like she is merely going through the motions, just hoping for that next Oscar nom. A scene near the end of the film, where Collins acts totally and inexplicably out of character, only makes her role seem that more staged than it already was. Her character goes from somewhat believable to a total fantasy in less than three minutes; which is never a good sign for anyone.
Jeffrey Donovan, playing Captain J.J. Jones makes for a great antagonist, but he is very underused. His accent may be a bit wavy, but he beams brightly when he shares the screen with Jolie. Much the same goes for John Malkovich, who plays a local radio-based Pastor who loves to enthrall his listeners with stories of corruption and evil within the LAPD. He too is shafted (much like in Burn After Reading), merely acting as an over-sized prop for Jolie as the film progresses. Both Kelly and Harner do great work for the small roles they are given, but as the films drags almost exclusively around the story behind these two characters. In a stronger film, both of these guys could have been stars.
While the film suffers under the weight Eastwood and Stracynski are forcing upon it, it does manage to set the 1920s scenery up quite well. From the costumes to the cars to the sets to even the drab and dark weather, Changeling is a tour-de-force for its technical means. The artists who put together this maverick vision clearly have a grasp on the material, and have an even better idea on where it is headed from moment one. They put a lot of effort into these designs, and it shows in how realistic and authentic they look.
Changeling is an interesting movie, but gets bogged down under too much being pumped into the story. It knows what it wants to be, but it makes itself out to be something totally different. Jolie is the star, but the supporting cast does a much better job holding it up than she does. Its watchable, but not more than once.
6/10.