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Not screened for critics by WW press deadlines, which is probably just as well, since it’s (ahem) a crashing bore.

Amelia

Well, golly, isn’t this a disastrous old tin whistle of a magic lantern show? Dusty as a hangar exhibit, Mira Nair’s biopic of Amelia Earhart gets lost in the first five minutes, and never threatens to return. Every line of dialogue has the creak of exposition, and usually competent actors (Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor) enunciate as if they’re trying to recall how humans speak. Initially this registers as an intentional throwback to early Hollywood sound productions, but it quickly begins to feel like general uncoordination. Still, if you’re in the mood for an old fashioned night-flying picture… well, Jimmy Stewart in The Spirit of St. Louis is pretty good. If you’re in the mood for an Old Fashioned, don’t you dare: Amelia has an odd subtext about the ruinous influence of plonk. (Co-pilot Fred Noonan does not come off well in this regard.) As Earhart, Hillary Swank gamely embodies toothy Kansan pluck—even waving hello to a flock of sheep—but Amy Adams played this role with far more sex, energy and humor in the Night at the Museum sequel. There’s not much either actress could have done with this script by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan: It never gives the heroine any motivation, or even a childhood, choosing instead to indulge an obsession with the young Gore Vidal. (In case you’re wondering if the kid is Gore Vidal, his name is conspicuously mentioned every time he shows up.) In the last 15 minutes, which are the best because there’s fleeting signal that something might happen, Earhart keeps checking her watch, an action I could identify with. The movie has no thrill, no mystery, no propulsion. Thud. PG. AARON MESH. Century 16 Cedar Hills Crossing, Century Eastport 16, Cinemas Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 IMAX, Cinetopia, City Center Stadium 12, Fox Tower Stadium 10, Lloyd Center Stadium 10 Cinema, Movies On TV Stadium 16.

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Tags: Amelia, Hillary Swank

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Culture, Screen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.