Daily Plastic: Changeling

Movie	Our Take	Other Takes
Changeling Trailer . IMDB		Jolie doesn't perform in Changeling; she resolutely presents herself to the audience for admiration. The main attraction in Eastwood's two-fisted snake-pit weepie is the spectacle of Jolie's steely self-possessed suffering. J. Hoberman Village Voice [Her son] is lit to resemble the Antichrist Damien in The Omen.... The way Eastwood shoves Jolie’s suffering in our face is like a threat to the Academy: “And the Oscar will go to …?” David Edelstein New York Magazine Single mom Angelina Jolie is a switchboard supervisor who glides around the telephone company on rollerskates. It’s adorable, but her signature smoky eyes and blood red lips mean she’s probably moonlighting as either a tramp or a clown. Karina Longworth SpoutBlog Rules of the game: We drink every time Angelina hysterically proclaims, “He’s not my son!” We get very drunk, and this may be why we can’t figure out why Clint Eastwood made a cheap-looking Lifetime movie.... Just when the drinking game is starting to get really out of control, there’s a twist so shocking that it’s punctuated by two inches of ash falling off a policeman’s cigarette … in slow motion. Karina Longworth SpoutBlog Changeling maintains Eastwood's creative streak. It might not be as exalted as Million Dollar Baby, but there are things about it that set it apart and make it one of the most enjoyable of his recent films.... There's just something satisfying about seeing a movie so well made. Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle ... the main thing wrong with Clint Eastwood’s view of evil in this movie is how childish it seems. I don’t care if he’s 78 and apparently has some fixation about innocent boys abducted by sex maniacs; even if the plot periodically suggests a remake of Mystic River, the cackling villains belong in a Hopalong Cassidy western ... Jonathan Rosenbaum JonathanRosenbaum.com

Still Playing