Doesn't 'changeling' have something to do with a loaded diaper?

Rating: 1/10 (17 September 2010)

How did someone who started out making spaghetti westerns get so self-important and full of himself as Clint Eastwood? I haven't seen the entire movie, beginning to end, just sections of it on TV and I just can't force myself to go all the way with it. It had the 'one eye on the Oscars' syndrome feel to it.
I think Eastwood has seen too many Spielberg movies and went for the expensive production values rather than memorable characters. Both are experts at creating 2 dimensional characters that I couldn't care less about.
First. I love Angelina Jolie but in this dreck, I cringed every time she was on the screen. I didn't empathize with her character's situation at all, which is pretty hard for a movie to fail at so totally given the naturally compelling 'situation'.
Second. The story seemed so hopelessly depressing that I couldn't bring myself to care one way or another about her, the kid, the Depression or whatever.
Third and most obvious was Eastwood's deliberate and overdone attempt to authentically recreate the era with clothes, cars, streetcars, and all kinds of stuff that seemed to take center stage over anything else. Surprisingly, there were still a lot of anachronisms with things in the movie that weren't created or used till years later. Fail.
Sometimes, it's better for a director to create the illusion of an era in the imagination of the audience rather than excruciating close up shots of details to 'force' the notion. Heck, Michael Keaton's spoof, Johnny Dangerously, recreated the era better even while taking great artistic liberties. I'm reminded of how audiences who saw Gone With The Wind thought they saw great Civil War battle scenes in the movie when there wasn't one single shot of that kind. That's great movie making, not simply spending lots of money finding old cars and other objects from that time and putting them in your face on the screen.
It's always amazing how some low-budget movies without big stars can do a much better job of storytelling, character development and overall entertainment than the big shots with money to burn.