I find Richard Jewell watchable from the perspective of how and why but not so much from an entertainment value. The characters are distinct but lack dimension and despite well-placed performances from most of the cast the final moments delivery a bland dramatic effect that feels more like a story being told.
Eastwood’s hey day as a great director has more or less passed him by and with each new production of his I see more and more of his political views seeping through the subtext and I wonder is this film created more so for the art or the message it’s sending to the US?
Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) is the type of person that as a kid would tell on his classmates for cheating on a test, or for skipping 5th period to hang out in the parking to smoke weed. He’s a narc, a red-blooded Georgia boy with a healthy respect of the rules and a love for law enforcement; however, he just doesn’t quite fit the bill for it.
He’s extremely overweight, unhealthy, a tad-bit slow and lacks the rational judgment of someone that should be licensed to carry a firearm for the US Government. He craves respect and often takes his job too seriously to the point where jurisdiction and civil rights are violated. And so he takes odd jobs and security gigs, including monitoring the Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jewell finds an abandoned backpack in the park, among thousands of people enjoying the festivities. He immediately thinks the worst again, overstepping this authority, however, he’s right this time as he and law enforcement are able to get a few precious moments to get majority of the crowd away from the bomb before it explodes.
Two people died and many more were injured, however, the story that emerges is that of Jewell being the hero. His quick actions most likely prevented a greater mass casualties and everyone wants to speak with this no name rent a cop from Georgia.
Jewell and his mother relish the spotlight and for good reason. He did his job and did it well. However, the FBI isn’t convinced. In fact they believe he fits the profile of the bomber. An angry white-male, with a law enforcement background seeking notoriety and with the help of an over-eager journalist (Olivia Wilde) who trades sex for FBI tips the two combine to essentially destroy Jewell and his family… simply because he’s a person of interest.
This story is true but how the FBI went about their business and the actions from Kathy Scruggs, the Atlanta Journal reporter are fuzzy at best (there happens to be a pending lawsuit of defamation toward the Eastwood camp).
Jewell was in fact being railroaded here. Guilty until proven innocent and watching the depiction of him in the film being coerced and coddled by the FBI in attempts to get a confession to the crime is maddeningly to watch. Mostly because of Jewell’s idiotic cooperation with the FBI nearly leads to him on multiple occasions of convicting himself, a la true crime docu-series we’ve seen in the past such as “To Make a Murderer.”
Sam Rockwell does a great job as Jewells lawyer, Watson Bryant, simultaneously protecting Jewell from himself and navigating the scrum filled waters of the media and Jon Hamm continues to prove he’s a capable dickhead as the leading FBI investigator, Tom Shaw. But the film belongs to Hauser and his mother Bobbi Jewell (Kathy Bates), who provides the film with its one powerful scene, pleading her son’s innocence to the national media.
But what’s taken from this film isn’t really the story of Jewell. It’s the story of a witch-hunt. It’s a story of the FBI getting it wrong and investigating an innocent man. It’s a story of the media, using sex for half-baked tips and going full board with its release and practically crucifying an innocent man with print cover convictions.
The actual Jewell passed away over a decade ago. The actual Centennial Park bomber confessed before that and the next Olympics to come back to the Untied States wont happen until 2028 so why now is this story making a comeback?
Everyone has their reasons, and good dramas should happen all the time but coming in on another election year I can’t help but think I just saw a 45 million dollar ad campaign.
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