Clint Eastwood Can't Make A Bad Movie Even If He Tried

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2008)

With Changeling Clint Eastwood has yet to end his streak of auspicious film making. Though not one of his best it is certainly worth watching. Changeling is a film about a single mother's (Christine) search for her son with a twist. Rather than the LAPD trying to help her they oppose her. As a result of receiving bad publicity for being unable to find her son Walter after five months, the police deliver Christine her "son". He is not really her son, he is a fraud. Christine immediately recognizes the boy isn't her son and quickly points this out to the police. She realizes she now has to fight the LAPD in order to find out the truth about her son. But with her attempt to fight back and embarrass the LAPD comes intense consequences.
The acting was rather disappointing in some aspects. For example Jeffrey Donovan was a bit annoying in his role as Captain Jones. His role required him to have some sort of a powerful aura with an intimidation power. Yet to me he was average bringing nothing to the movie not properly portraying a selfish unjust policeman. The star of the movie, Angelina Jolie, was very solid but her performance was not a unique or impossible one to take on by any other actress. She did what she had to do to make the movie a success but she certainly did not take the movie to another level. The one actor that did impress me though was John Malkovich which probably shouldn't be a surprise who i felt should have received more screen time. Unlike Jolie he took the movie to another level. A more serious, suspenseful and intensified level that carried a heightened sense of depth which was was badly missing from a few performances such as Jeffrey Donovan throughout the film. Overall the performances throughout were inconsistent.
The writing and director of the movie was done very well but it could've used a little more sharpness. At times the movie seemed to be all over place not quite having an identity. Sometimes it was a crime mystery, sometimes a drama, and sometimes it tried too hard to be both. Despite that Clint Eastwood some how keeps Changeling from dramatically falling apart. It almost seems as if Clint Eastwood couldn't make a bad movie even if he tried. At times it flourished and at other times it just didn't feel right. Christine Collins always told her son "You never start a fight but you always finish it." Eastwoods job on this movies seemed quite the contrary, he never quite finished the movie off.
My rating: 7.7/10