J. Edgar Hoover biopic too disorganized

A film profiling the life of a public figure as complex and troubled as former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover seems like the perfect Oscar candidate. … “J. Edgar”

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Film studio: Warner Brothers Pictures

Grade: C-

A film profiling the life of a public figure as complex and troubled as former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover seems like the perfect Oscar candidate. Add a star-studded cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Judi Dench and the legendary director Clint Eastwood, and a “Best Picture” nomination seems inevitable. Unfortunately, Clint Eastwood’s latest film “J. Edgar” falls short of being considered even a decent film.

The film is framed around an elderly J. Edgar (DiCaprio) giving an oral biography of his life to several young writers shortly before the Watergate scandal. Starting with explosions set off at several government officials’ homes by radicals, “J. Edgar” retells Hoover’s rise to prominence, and his often unscrupulous methods of coercion.

A central and ill-advised storyline in the film is the Lindbergh kidnapping, a historical event that made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal offense. While this seems as though it would be a key point in the life of a former FBI Director, the film’s handling of the case is burdensome to the plot’s coherence. Also clumsily woven into the narrative is Hoover’s relationship with his mother, Anna Marie (Dench). While this storyline is important to understanding Hoover’s character, the sporadic and often disjointed nature of the plotlines just makes the film more confusing.

Hoover was known for keeping files on many public figures, and the film alludes to his vendetta against Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it does so incredibly poorly, featuring a scene where Hoover discovers a sex-tape the audience is supposed to believe features King.

Several controversial elements of Hoover’s life are examined in detail in the film. Most notable is the belief that Hoover was a closeted homosexual, and his loving, yet chaste relationship with Associate FBI Director Clyde Tolson (Hammer). Hoover’s sexuality is perhaps the most coherent storyline throughout the muddled film. And the only redeeming quality to the film is the on-screen chemistry between DiCaprio and Hammer. If nothing else, “J. Edgar” portrays the love the two men had for each other magnificently.

Nonetheless, clumsy directing and woefully comedic makeup — Clyde Tolson looks like he belongs in an SNL skit — make the emotionally gripping moments of such a complex figure’s life utterly incomprehensible and, more than anything, make for an incredibly disappointing film.