Damon excels in a logily paced misfire from De Niro & co.; Blanchard steals film

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2007)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD (2006) ** Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Tammy Blanchard, Billy Crudup, Robert De Niro, Keir Dullea, Michael Gambon, Martina Gedeck, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Gabriel Macht, Lee Pace, Joe Pesci, Eddie Redmayne, John Sessions, John Turturro. Listless, bloodless epic account of the beginning of the CIA seen through the ambitious eyes of new recruit Damon (who does an able bodied job altogether), whose personal life suffers in the pursuit for Truth, Justice and the American way in this logily paced pet project directed by De Niro (who has a small role as a mentor to Damon). The blunt yet unaffecting screenplay by Eric Roth hinders the lengthy ping-ponging back and forth of timeline (i.e "it's 1946, no it's 1961, no it's 1952"!) and a bloated cast (Jolie is utterly wasted in a thankless role) round out just a few of the problems in this misguided attempt to look at a truly intriguing subject matter. Noteworthy is Blanchard as a deaf girlfriend, who steals the film.