Review: Georgetown

Kinda sorta (definitely) based on the true story of Albrecht Muth, Christoph Waltz stars as Ulrich Mott, a foreign-born Washington social climber accused of killing his 90ish wife Elsa (Vanessa Redgrave). Mott, supposedly a brigadier general in the Iraqi Special Forces, used his former journalist wife’s political connections as he hosts swanky parties with bigwigs, and sets up a bullshit Ponzi scheme of an NGO brilliantly called the Eminent Persons Group (Ulrich so desperately wants to be seen as eminent himself). The only person who seemingly sees Ulrich for the lowly con artist that he is, is Elsa’s middle-aged college professor daughter (Annette Bening) who suspects the man killed her mother.

 

Austrian-born actor Christoph Waltz makes his underwhelming directorial debut with this flat, unsurprising 2020 con artist crime-drama. Scripted by David Auburn (“The Lake House”) and based on a Franklin Foer article for the New York Times, it’s somewhat based on a true story but you likely won’t believe a word of it. I certainly struggled, partly because either Waltz was going for black comedy here or his entire character and performance are an overdone caricature. The half-arsed disclaimer at the start of the film (stating that the film does not claim to be the truth despite being based on an article that was based on truth) and changed character names seems solely to give Waltz (here pretentiously under the directorial moniker of ‘C. Waltz’) licence to do whatever he wants. That would be fine if I could at least believe it within the world he creates here. But I couldn’t. It was all a put-on. Waltz is capable of greatness as an actor but under his own direction here he’s hammy and unconvincing. I’m not saying he’s known for subtlety, but perhaps wearing two hats here makes him especially heavy-handed. The patented Waltz schtick seems too much for this material, this otherwise grounded world. His character’s disingenuousness and lack of scruples too obvious, thus making most of the other characters seem stupid for falling for his bullshit.

 

Honestly, the only thing I really bought here was the work by Annette Bening and to some extent Vanessa Redgrave. Bening in particular plays the only character here who I actually believed in. And what does it all amount to in the end? Nothing, really. Waltz and Auburn provide scant detail about the main character, oddly enough. How did he get to the point where we first meet him in the film, for instance?

 

Lukewarm, overdone mixture of “Reversal of Fortune” and “Six Degrees of Separation” has solid work by veterans Vanessa Redgrave and Annette Bening, but director-star Waltz paints everything with a heavy hand. I just didn’t buy any of it. It isn’t exactly boring, but it does show that not all actors are meant to be directors. Watchable to some extent, but completely ineffective at the same time. 

 

Rating: C