It's a popcorn movie. Don't expect too much except a pleasant afternoon

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2014)

There are a lot of negative reviews about this movie because it doesn't achieve all that it might. A tremendous topic, the Nazi theft of as much European art as the Reich could carry, the destruction of much of the rest, and the discovery and recovery of that art by a small group of men dedicated to the task. This is all based on true events. If you want to see a documentary about the Reich's heist, watch the excellent "The Rape of Europa" and you'll get all you want. If you want to spend a pleasant afternoon watching the dramatized George Clooney version, better called "Ocean's 11 Saves Private Art," then see this movie.
There's a powerhouse team of actors including Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Balaban, Cate Blanchett, and Hugh Beaumont that's not even slightly stretched in this movie. Yes, the script could have done far more with these talented actors. It doesn't, so there's a lost opportunity. Too bad. Instead, what we have is a cheesy white-hat/black-hat, "The Good War," World War II movie where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. You know, the kind of movie we used to watch before all those ambiguous wars messed with our moral compasses and made us less than certain of just who we are.
For me, the movie was worth it just to watch the 5-minute scene where George Clooney's erudite character explains to a captured and smug German officer why he's not anti-semitic. The German officer was reported to have run "one of those camps." The officer told Clooney that he had run one of those camps, and that Clooney should be thankful to the German for helping to clean up "the problem." Clooney pulls out a cigarette even though he doesn't smoke, lights it up, and replies that the cigarette will help him to remember this conversation after the war while he's enjoying a New York Times review and a bagel at his favorite Jewish deli in New York City. He will remember the cigarette and the conversation but the German officer will be utterly forgettable. In this, Clooney portrays the morally progressive and unambiguous American we wish we were.
Perhaps movie audiences are no longer able to sit through clear, morally unambiguous fare like "The Monuments Men." I, however, felt it was an afternoon well spent.