Changeling

Changeling (2008)


Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffery Donovan

Synopsis
LA in '28. a woman's kid goes missing and the corrupt and greedy police give her the runaround and try to convince her the kid they "return" to her is hers. incorrect!

MOster
Ya know, I had some trepidation going into this one; but it turned out to be pretty alright.  I never saw Girl Interrupted, and I was wracking my brain to remember another "drama" in which Angelina played.  The closest we could come up with was Hackers, which doesn't really count.  But, whatever, really.

Supposedly based on a true story, I find it difficult to believe that in real life every end was tied quite so neatly; and having eleven endings to do so did a disservice to what was a pretty well-paced first 110 minutes.  While I have no difficulty in believing that the police were exactly as corrupt as they were shown to be there should have been some more weight behind the people working to "help" her.  Both the Malkovich character and the lawyer were obviously in it for their own political / PR gain.

That aside, empathy is easy to find here; and there's plenty of responsibility to share for that accomplishment.  A lot of it comes from my own feelings of paranoia and pig-distrust, but there were no missteps in the technical side of the production or the acting.  We weren't quite getting 100% from Malkovich--we still got more than enough--and while we did get 100% from Joile her 100 equaled whatever we were getting from him.

Again, whatever.  The "facts" behind movie will probably frustrate you, but it's still worth watching.

The Woman
this wasn't bad for a jolie flick. i have problems with her. she annoys me. but i guess eastwood cancelled her annoyingness out. it started to drag three quarters of the way through and i think it was taken a little too far down her life. there were approximately three different parts where it could have ended and i would have been satisfied. her end speech was a little too schmaltzy for me too. it was at that point that i began to mock it. but i think all together it was a solid three out of five, which lately, with us, has been no small feat. i'm glad we watched it. i can always appreciate a lady who stands up for herself, especially against the man.