Monuments Men Stands Still

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2014)

The movie opens with Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Frank Stokes (Clooney) pleading with President Roosevelt to protect Europe's cultural heritage by forming the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program, nicknamed the Monuments Men. After he receives the go-ahead he recruits a gaggle of art professionals including art historians (Matt Damon, Hugh Bonneville), architects (Bill Murray), sculptors (John Goodman) and other artists (Jean Dujardin & Bob Balaban). Their mission: to find caches of stolen art and rescue them from the pilfering Nazis.
Costarring Cate Blanchett as art curator for the occupied Paris Museum, Monuments Men tries to be a mixture of Guns of Navarone (1961), Topkapi (1964) and National Treasure (2004) but fails on all counts. From the get go the film plods through the plot like it has no particular place to go. The principle cast is given little opportunity to flesh out their characters with only Damon given the opportunity to really let loose. Yet even his wings are clipped by an uninteresting courtship with Blanchett's character which seems tagged on because, you know, without Blanchett it'd be a sausage-fest.
Part of the fault lies with George Clooney who in addition to starring also directed. His direction is adequate but far from commanding keeping everything mid-range, eye-level, and simply blocked. His style has never seemed to grow since Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) and while his by-the-books camera-work might work for Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) it simply can't for a retread of The Train (1964). Word of advice, if you're trying to recreate the grandeur of old Hollywood in your films, don't use the same techniques, put your own stamp on it.
Of course the film is not all bad. Art students might enjoy playing a game of find the Vermeer instead of paying attention to Clooney's pronouncements of importance. There are a handful of funny moments for those who haven't seen the trailers. There's a running gag with people continually complaining about Damon's bad French which is amusing. Also Murray and Balaban's characters do make a good team in a Bob Hope, Bing Crosby kind of way. If the movie consisted of just them and Blanchett's capable yet under-appreciated Parisian dame, I might be okay with that.
If Monuments Men were placed in a WWII four pack with Red Tails (2012), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Defiance (2008) I might buy it (though the draw would be Enemy at the Gates). The film succeeds in telling the story of the MFAA without being too cloying or discourteous. But after the credits roll and the house lights come up you might be wishing the film was more interesting.