Changeling 2008

A.O. Scott, New York Times: When it works best, Changeling is a feverish and bluntly effective parable of wronged innocence. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The way Eastwood shoves Jolie's suffering in our face is like a threat to the Academy: 'And the Oscar WILL go to ... ' She's a great actress. She doesn't need his domineering chivalry. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This incredible but true story marks the first time Eastwood's signature themes have found expression in a woman's experience, and the absence of any distracting machismo only heightens his sense of helpless rage. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Connections are missing or scrambled between the filmmaking and the period, between the co-stars, Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, and between the characters they play. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The line between drama and melodrama is a fine one, and Clint Eastwood steps on both sides of it in his elegantly sad new film, Changeling. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Eastwood, who has made fine movies in recent years, has got hold of a humdinger of a story. But he's too detached and lazy here. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Where much of Changeling works at once as a compelling mystery and an agonizing human drama, it starts to drift in a series of final scenes that finish the story while losing all sense of urgency. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Changeling is a fine-enough movie. It's just that it's aware of the fact, and neither Eastwood nor Jolie ever lets the audience forget it. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Eastwood overcompensates for the movie's meandering with a succession of hysterics -- from men, women, and children. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: To see this film is to understand both how fragile and how essential our hopes for decency and truth are in a world that must be made to care about either one. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Eastwood, working from a script by J. Michael Straczynski, tells a painful true story neatly and well, with one foot in rousing Hollywood melodrama and the other in a story that resists tidy resolution. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: This hothouse Changeling is freeze-dried. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: It is a misfire, a silly and borderline absurd story that cannot excuse its twists and turns with the simple 'a true story' declaration that opens the film. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The oldfangled deliberateness of Eastwood's style has backfired this time, only adding to the sense that though you may not have heard this particular story before, you already know everything that's coming. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: How could a story as genuinely bizarre as this one seem so generic and rambling on the screen? Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Changeling may be the most beautiful horror film ever made; it may also be the most boring. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Biblically classical, tastefully vintage with aerial shots of wet umbrellas and Homburg hats and not a little staid considering its sensational source material, Changeling isn't so much dull as it is an open book. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: If Changeling lacks the knockout power of, say, Million Dollar Baby, it proves that Eastwood continues to seek out stories that take him places he hasn't been before -- and the audience along with him. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: A film lacking in dramatic propulsion and actorly grace from Clint Eastwood, a director usually synonymous with both. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Eastwood tells his haunting, sorrowful saga with such a sure, steady hand, only a very hardened cynic could fail to be moved. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Changeling is beautifully wrought, but it has the abiding fault of righteously indignant filmmaking. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: This is one movie where the star really is the star. And delivers a performance of which any actress can be truly proud. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The script is compelling, the direction confident, the production values professional. But it does not, in the end, feel real. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Changeling is another remarkable addition to Eastwood's directorial canon. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Despite Ms. Jolie's hard work and Mr. Eastwood's scrupulous attention, [Jolie's] difficult, fairly one-dimensional character fails to take hold. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Changeling is the real deal, as good as any film [Eastwood] has ever made, and 10 times more electrifying than most. It grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: If the film is too long and a little unwieldy in its later acts, the consummate craftsman in Eastwood glosses over that with detail and righteous rage. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: With its many tonal shifts and dangling subplots, J. Michael Straczynski's sprawling script is a problem. Jolie's performance is another. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: It all just seems like window-dressing for Jolie's best-actress clip at the Oscars. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Clint Eastwood's Changeling falls into a common trap: by trying to do too much, it accomplishes too little. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It has not a single unnecessary stylistic flourish. No contrived dramatics. No shocking stunts. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Normally, Jolie is an actress capable of both intensity and subtlety, but her performance here is too amped up to register as anything more than a star turn. Did nobody notice that the real Angelina had been snatched? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Clint Eastwood is in the midst of one of cinema's most notable late growth spurts. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The Changeling doesn't invite the viewer to share in its heroine's disorientation, rage, and grief. Rather, it keeps us at a stately remove, presenting Christine's suffering as a kind of religious tableau. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Changeling is a brilliant, demanding film, a mystery-cum-character study about which we finally have to make up our own minds. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Heavy-lifting, indeed. And, although Eastwood directs the narrative excess with his usual restraint, this time the results are mixed. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Changeling reminds us that the veneer of civilization is thin and made of quicksilver. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: For a director who knows how to balance histrionics with a lack of sentimentality (see Mystic River), Eastwood is unable to modulate tone or performances here. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: It's a tough movie but also rewarding and inspiring: something of a quiet triumph. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: [I]t is not enough to declare such improbable material historically accurate and leave it at that. It is Eastwood's burden to make it feel true... and in this, Changeling is a singular failure. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While the neo-Gothic tale is inherently intriguing, the film should inspire strong emotion, but deliberate pacing and a contained sense of melodrama make it a surprisingly passive experience. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Image trumps performance. Read more