Richard Jewell

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it looks pretty good movie i might watch it
You should. It’s excellent.
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Surely not quite ‘dissed’ it, weren’t enthusiastic, perhaps? Paul Walter Hauser was, indeed, great. I also watch everything with Rockwell and I didn’t regret watching this, but it was a bit uneven, and at times PWH gave me Shawn from I, Tonya vibes, and this is no compliment. From what I remember, the main criticism was that the film over-simplified the story, which it did.
You're probably right. Yet some of the lower critic reviews were in defense of the reporter who broke the false narrative. The press rarely stands for a shaming. Also, Jewell was a hick, gun-owning cracker, which again usually gets poor marks from the mainstream critics.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Anybody here watch the miniseries on Jewell, Manhunt: Deadly Games, on Netflix? It goes into a lot more detail than a movie can, and it was, I thought, interesting viewing. I haven't seen the movie yet, but now I'll go back and watch that for a comparison.



You're probably right. Yet some of the lower critic reviews were in defense of the reporter who broke the false narrative. The press rarely stands for a shaming. Also, Jewell was a hick, gun-owning cracker, which again usually gets poor marks from the mainstream critics.
Oh, in that sense. I suppose there’s negative reviews dismissive of the film itself and then there’s the meta-criticism. Seems a bit sad that they’d focus on ‘fairness’, for lack of a better word, instead of quality.

Not to mention journalists and the PR gang can be quite mean. Then again, I work in PR, so I’m biased. A colleague recently got offended when a journalist-turned-PR exec introduced him as, ‘Hi, this is Steve. He will literally get into bed with his clients.’ Now, this lady is usually an eloquent lady, so when she says ‘literally’, you take it at face value...



I was really underwhelmed by this one. Thought it was one of Eastwood's poorer films, and rather than trend following The Mule (which was terrific), this film trended more like 15.17 to Paris. The direction itself was solid enough and the support acting was fine, but the writing is the main underlying problem, and when that is a problem everything else is lipstick on a pig.

It's true that there are so many true miscarraiges of justice from around the world but even if concentrating solely on the United States, then this one while high profile because of the Olympic backdrop, lacks serious gravitas. Around the time this came out there was another film called Just Mercy, which was far more weightier, and when comparing those who have lost decades incarcerated in prison for crimes they never committed, let alone those who have been executed.

So to then focus down on a story from 25 years ago where the main protagonist was inconvenienced for less than 3 months in total and never spent so much as a single night behind bars or being detained by the law.

In a perfect world noone should be treated or go though what Jewell did, based solely on profiling alone, but even in the imperfect world we live in, Jewell's story really does struggle to measure up against real stories of profiling gone wrong and true miscarraiges of justice.

I remember writing at the time when first sat this movie, that it felt like Paul Walter Hauser was cast for this with the instruction - 'we liked what you did in I, Tonya, do more of the same here' and that's what this kind of feels like.

And yes, the support acting is solid enough, but those characters are all written pretty one dimensionally. For instance, and I say this with absolute respect, I didn't really see why Kathy Bates was Oscar nominated for this. Bates is a wonderful actress and have the highest regard for her as such, and has done far better work for less recognition. but her character in this is written so one-dimensionally and underdeveloped that it does limit what she can do with the role. And the same can be said for the characters of pretty much everyone else in the cast also.

The central flaw with this film is the lack of gravitas in the story and the poor writing. Billy Ray's writing credits leading into this movie were Overlord, Gemini Man, Terminator: Dark Fate and then this, while kind of says it all. Nevermind complete messing with facts, supporting characters presented more as charicature, even the central character is written as bit odd, over-zealous but good intentioned, while his... checkered... past is downplayed and when it is brought up it's treated as a joke - literally used for comic effect.

Bottomline is, if the writing is bad, a bad film will follow. Doesn't matter how much money is thrown at the production, how skilled the director, or how talented the cast, at that point it all becomes about lipstick on a pig.

As a base of comparison, if anyone is interested, looking for a movie that is comparable, over a bombing incident, where the protagonist is subjected to miscarraige of justice over something that they never did, where a parent and other family are dragged into it all, where the writing, direction and acting are all on song, then highly recommend checking outIn the Name of the Father, co-written and directed by Jim Sheridan, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite & Emma Thompson.



Anybody here watch the miniseries on Jewell, Manhunt: Deadly Games, on Netflix? It goes into a lot more detail than a movie can, and it was, I thought, interesting viewing. I haven't seen the movie yet, but now I'll go back and watch that for a comparison.
Sounds interesting, but I couldn't find it on IMDB with that title. Could it be a little different?



The Adventure Starts Here!
Sounds interesting, but I couldn't find it on IMDB with that title. Could it be a little different?
Nope. I purposely looked it up on Netflix, since the Manhunt series has several entries. It's on Netflix here:

https://www.netflix.com/search?q=manhunt&jbv=81387214



So to then focus down on a story from 25 years ago where the main protagonist was inconvenienced for less than 3 months in total and never spent so much as a single night behind bars or being detained by the law.

In a perfect world noone should be treated or go though what Jewell did, based solely on profiling alone, but even in the imperfect world we live in, Jewell's story really does struggle to measure up against real stories of profiling gone wrong and true miscarraiges of justice.
It doesn’t have to “measure up” against anything. It’s a very interesting story & it made for a good movie IMO.

Going by your reckoning one could never make a movie set in Germany unless the story was about the concentration camps of WWII. By your measure any other storyline would pale in comparison.



It doesn’t have to “measure up” against anything. It’s a very interesting story & it made for a good movie IMO.

Going by your reckoning one could never make a movie set in Germany unless the story was about the concentration camps of WWII. By your measure any other storyline would pale in comparison.

That is not the case, nor the point of what I was making.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Whether or not he ever spent a night behind bars, his life and reputation were irreparably ruined by that profiling. That's the part of the story that sticks with me: how easily mob rule and some police prejudice can ruin an innocent person.



Whether or not he ever spent a night behind bars, his life and reputation were irreparably ruined by that profiling. That's the part of the story that sticks with me: how easily mob rule and some police prejudice can ruin an innocent person.
My thoughts exactly.