Review of The Believer (2001) by Captainhowdy — 16 Aug 2019

Though this film has an interesting premise, it is extremely uneven to the point where it's nearly nonsensical. Ryan Gosling does a fairly decent job, but the script can't decide whether his character loves Jews, hates Jews, or somewhere in between. One minute he's speaking with solid conviction in extreme detail about his hatred for Jews; the next, he's getting all weepy-eyed over the idea of attacking them.

The real weakness, however, is that no really compelling reason is given WHY he has become a neo-Nazi. We're given some backstory involving turmoil at the Jewish school where he questions the faith and some frustration with Jews' reluctance to fight back against oppression, but a person could just have easily left the faith and adopted atheism on his experiences.

The end result is a muddled film that tries to do too much and ends up not really doing anything. There are a handful of other good performances, but in the end the story is just a mess.