Good vs Evil tale for bigots

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2008)

MAY CONTENT SPOILERS What is Clint Eastwood's problem? Is the aging Pale Rider getting afraid of Death? Has he not found anything else than religious bigotry to cure his fears? Because that is what Changeling is about. A series of caricatured characters straight out of a Sunday morning sermon, in a story told with absolutely no humor, no irony - always a bad sign - on a pompous solemn TV evangelist tone. Be afraid of going to hell! Be afraid of sitting in front of 132 minutes of a sermonizing movie about good and evil. Add to this: clichés galore, a slow pace (you can go out and buy a drink, being comfortable you are not missing anything), plain camera work and picture compositions, and a very unconvincing performance from A. Jolie. Everything she does is unbelievable. When she takes her child in her arms it looks fake. Her feelings which may be genuine just don't come through. To her credit she has nothing to play: the character is the embodiment of virtue. She's good, good, good, so good, so dull, she should have asked for a rewrite. Only upside to her character: she works on roller skates for a telephone company, which may have sound cool on paper and is simply odd in the movie. Quite unlike her, a series of evil freaks badly try to harm the Virgin Mary who's lost her child. The corrupt cop, excellent performance by Jeffrey Donovan, a baddie who should get more parts, the corrupt and pervert psychiatrist (what else), and of course the formulaic serial killer who just walked out of an episode of CSI, except this time, the TV series plot is served with a sermon, as he finds true redemption owing to a last minute confession to a priest. The content of the confession most certainly holds the secret to the whole plot but nor us nor Mrs Jolie get to know it. The good mother is helped by another good character in her fight against the three baddies and guess what's his job: he's a reverend. Malkovitch looks so evil naturally that he manages to create an interesting character out of another dull part of the screenplay. He's a genius actor this man, Hollywood tends to forget his huge talent too much too fast. You end up wishing the film was about the reverend rather than his simpering protégé. Most of the time the plot is grossly unbelievable. The mother is manipulated by the press to accept a child which is clearly not hers; What made the real mother do it in the real life, who knows; but the film fails to properly account for this keystone to the story. The good reverend walks in the hospital with a warrant to save the good mother from the evil psychiatrist just as she is about to receive electric shocks, just like in a pulp B movie, except this one thinks very highly of itself. I mean come on, this can't be serious, what were they thinking? 2 out of 10 for the recreation of the 1930s LA costumes, props and visual effects.