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

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more