Review of J. Edgar (2011) by Sebastian H — 06 Aug 2013

J. Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio): It's time we at least have one thing the bad guys don't.

Clyde Tolson (Hammer): Decorating skills?

I've never been a fan of DiCaprio, there are roles he is perfect for like Frank Abagnale Jr. in "Catch Me If You Can" and roles which seemed ill-suited but works, which surprisingly enough was as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator". Unfortunately though, not every gamble pays off because his portrayal of J. Edgar was a miss and I felt it was a complete miscast. He's a talented actor, don't get me wrong, but all his talent still didn't not make a convincing J. Edgar. It was kind of distracting and took me out of the film a little bit because I was watching DiCaprio trying to play J.Edgar Hoover. He just wasn't believable. Fortunately though, this film had Armie Hammer (Clyde Tolson) to fall back on and he was as charming and as captivating as always. I'm absolutely in-love with this guy and I couldn't take my eyes off of him in this film. I think he inadvertently stole the show. The story itself was pretty interesting, I wasn't aware J. Edgar was so brilliant. I loved learning about his contributions to the filling system at Library of Congress, centralizing criminal records and his advocacy for modern forensics and crime-scene investigating techniques; which makes it such a shame that Hoover's legacy was marred by scandals surrounding his expansive career in the bureau and his homosexual life-style rather than for these marvelous innovations. Overall, this was a good movie to watch, even though I didn't enjoy DiCaprio's performance, I liked the educational aspect of the film.