1/22/2020 - Richard Jewell (2019) - 5+/10

They sure do lay it all on thick. He is the nicest, most complimentary and exemplary police wannabe ever. She is the most vile skanky unfeeling harlot the news media has ever seen. The process of the investigation was the most rushed, uninformed, and maliciously malevolent witch hunt this side of the preside...AHEM.. Salem. This is a grounded and no nonsense possible expose of a dark moment in media, society, and justice… but you cannot divorce the obvious and overriding political slants towards saber-rattling about the media and a pronounced hit job on it.

It is well acted by Hauser, who proved he could hold the screen, and the always solid Rockwell. I personally don’t get the love for Bates. Solid, but it came off more as Lifetime than real and top of the mountain performance.

It could have leaned into the societal jump to conclusion-itis or the need to idolize and/or demonize, but it wanted to attack more political enemies. I thought that this would be a good example to get Eastwood’s point of view across: the evil of the media, but with this platform he couldn’t deliver more than vacant pomp. I expected emotional resonance but I thought it came off as schmaltz, aiming more than delivering.