A couple of days ago, David Poland snarked that “Gran Torino” plays better as a comedy. Well, whether by accident or design, that’s exactly how some trade papers are reading the film. While Variety’s Todd McCarthy calls it a “funny, broad but ultimately serious-minded drama,” The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt goes all out in declaring it a “return to comedy.”
Whatever the genre, the verdict is mixed. Honeycutt seems to enjoy Eastwood’s “rare comic performance,” but thinks the film may disappoint fans of Eastwood’s recent, weightier work:
The movie itself … is an unstable affair given to overemphasized points and telegraphed punches. It lacks the subtlety of Eastwood’s recent efforts, but then again, the film must be seen in the mode of “Dirty Harry reunites with his ‘Every Which Way but Loose’ orangutan” — only this time it’s an aging dog named Daisy.
That this mostly comic film turns tragic is a foregone conclusion as this mood change is signaled all along. (When a character spends an entire film coughing up blood, we don’t imagine he’ll be around at the end.) Yet Eastwood’s direction cannot always smooth out the unevenness and forced situations in Schenk’s script.
McCarthy, however, is rather more forgiving:
The actor-director’s second release of the season is his most stripped-down, unadorned picture in many a year, even as it continues his long preoccupation with race in American society. Highlighted by the star’s vastly entertaining performance, this funny, broad but ultimately serious-minded drama about an old-timer driven to put things right in his deteriorating neighborhood looks to be a big audience-pleaser with mainstream viewers of all ages.
There is probably no leading Hollywood actor with less ham in him than Eastwood — just compare him to Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino, for starters — but by his standards, this is a real barn-burner; grumbling under his breath or merely looking askance at the perceived lowlifes that litter his existence, Eastwood clearly relishes this role and conveys his delight to the audience, to great satisfaction all around.
He also disagrees with Honeycutt on the script, which he finds “lively and neatly balanced,” and then goes so far as to say the film may be “the first film of the Obama era.” Uh, okay.
The love-in gets mushier with Screen International’s review, which proclaims the film “a small jewel in Clint Eastwood’s canon of work as a director and a highpoint in his career as an actor.” They predict Eastwood’s “magnificent” performance will be a sure Best Actor contender on sentiment alone, but it’s later on that the review turns into an all-out valentine:
Eastwood is America’s great humanist director at present, making eloquent calls for compassion in films like “Million Dollar Baby,” “Letters From Iwo Jima” and this year’s “Changeling,” but never at the expense of spinning a good yarn. “Gran Torino” is a plea for racial tolerance in the US but it is also a compelling story of friendship which lingers in the mind when the extravagances of “Benjamin Button” and “Australia” have faded from memory.
I have yet to see the film for myself, but something strange is afoot here. You can’t have one critic essentially calling the film “Dirty Harry meets Every Which Way But Loose,” and another all but grooming it for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the last week, we’ve had David Poland laying into the film with untempered venom, Kris speculating on whether it could be a Razzie contender … and the National Board of Review handing it trophies galore.
Confused? I know I am.
Would the exact same film receive such gushing endorsements as McCarthy’s “Obama era” claim were it from the hand of a journeyman filmmaker like, say, Roger Donaldson? Obviously sentiment was always going to play a role here — after “Changeling” (rightly or wrongly, depending on your take) didn’t quite score the way many expected it would, you could sense a lot of people really wanted to love “Gran Torino.” But is the pressure of awards season causing some to exaggerate their cheers — or their jeers?
Of course, these are just the trade reviews. As with “Changeling,” I suspect it will be the national press that has the dominant say in the matter.
Comments
14 responses to “Trades mixed-to-positive on ‘Gran Torino’”
I thought Changeling was terrific. I don’t get the beefs people have with it.
I think Honeycutt finally describes the film for what it really is. I won’t see it for quite a while but it seems to make sense for the first time there. And yes, Changeling is a very good film. A bit long, but truly well crafted.
Yeah, Honeycutt’s is the only review that makes much sense to me — unusual for him.
I must say, I was left cold by “Changeling,” which I actually thought was let down by Jolie’s limitations, but I don’t quite get the all-out massacre it received from some critics.
Can’t wait to see this movie. It sounds very very interesting. I like the fact that although a drama it has a comedic air. I’m looking forward to that.
So now it’s a “comedy”? How embarassingly revisionist.
And what the hell does Obama have to do with any of this?
I really doubt Eastwood wanted this to be a comedy… He takes himself too seriously to do so at this stage of his career. And if this is his last performance, again I doubt he would choose a comedic performance to say goodbye to his “beloved audience”.
And the Obama commentary? Well I guess that’s another sign of things gone bad… He was a McCain supporter so I would say he wouldn’t like his film to be called the first in the “Obama era” (whatever that means). That’s technically an insult to him…
Maybe people are over-reading too much and this is just a bad film. No more, no less. I guess we’ll have to see it and decide
“You can’t have one critic essentially calling the film “Dirty Harry meets Every Which Way But Loose,†and another all but grooming it for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
I don’t see why not. If that’s really what the film is, that’s very cool.
I liked Changeling too. Enough to see it twice. Is it the best film ever made? No, but I think it’s a good one. For me the weakest link was the screenplay and not the performances.
Didn’t Kris already see this? Why hasn’t he posted a review?
We all have busy lives, Zan. Reviews don’t write themselves in a matter of minutes, and sometimes a film needs a few days to settle in one’s mind. Patience.
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I have mixed feelings on this the trailer was terrible but then again so was Slumdog Millionaire and that was great. These mixed reviews aren’t helping it look more interesting.
I definitely have to judge for myself, but it seems, based on the majority of people whose reviews I’ve always trusted, that some critics are reaching, rationalizing, twisting their true feelings on the film, and perhaps overlooking flaws because it is an Eastwood project. It’s very irritating that someone’s name could be such a manipulative factor in their work, instead of it being critiqued with objectivity and honesty. Hopefully, the general reviews aren’t affected by this. Frankly though, I don’t have much hope up my sleeve….
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