A compelling, adult period thriller, with an Oscar-assured performance from Angelina Jolie.
Changeling (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 189
Fresh: 116
Rotten:73
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Consensus: Beautifully shot and well-acted, Changeling is a compelling story that unfortunately gives in to convention too often.
Theatrical Release:26-11-2008
Synopsis: At first, Clint Eastwood's CHANGELING could appear to be following too closely in the footsteps of his earlier Oscar winner, MYSTIC RIVER, since both films center on a missing child. But while his... At first, Clint Eastwood's CHANGELING could appear to be following too closely in the footsteps of his earlier Oscar winner, MYSTIC RIVER, since both films center on a missing child. But while his previous film was based on a Dennis Lehane novel, CHANGELING carries a particular weight because it is based on a true story, and one that isn't largely known. Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a single mother working in 1928 Los Angeles when her son goes missing. A boy is returned to her months later by the police, but she is shocked and disheartened when she realizes that the boy isn't her son. Joined by a crusading pastor (John Malkovich), Christine battles for justice against the corrupt L.A.P.D. while she continues to search for her child. Eventually her fight against the cops lands her in a mental hospital, where she is surrounded by others with a similar plight. At times, CHANGELING is incredibly difficult to watch. Jolie gives an authentic, anguished performance, and the on-screen tragedy is quite disturbing, largely because of its basis in reality. But Eastwood has crafted another Oscar-worthy film that is certainly worth sitting through, even if a tissue or two is required. Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski had been best known for his work in science fiction (BABYLON FIVE) and graphic novels, but he makes an adept transition to feature drama with this film. Its unusual focus--on the victim and her struggle for justice, rather than on the criminal and the crime--brings further depth to the film. As always, Amy Ryan (an Oscar nominee for GONE BABY GONE) perfectly morphs into her role (this time as a prostitute imprisoned in the mental hospital), and the film's many child actors are compelling to watch. [More]
Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore
Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly
Director: Clint Eastwood
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: J. Michael Straczynski
Producer: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Robert Lorenz
Composer: Clint Eastwood
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Changeling
It’s a tough movie but also rewarding and inspiring: something of a quiet triumph.
A handsome but slack, long-winded retelling of an admittedly fantastic real-life case that displays Eastwood at his least effective. Jolie is fine in an award-bait role but she'll probably be going to the Oscars alone.
Changeling, like Letters from Iwo Jima before it, is a mature, thoughtful and sometimes brutal movie that casts a cold eye on the past while sending shivers through the present.
What a bold, virile, operatic piece of film-making from this 78-year-old director. He is now well into a remarkable late period, and I sense we ain't seen nothing yet.
Changeling fails because, despite its awful subject matter, it isn't very moving. Eastwood is too classical, too restrained a director to get inside his characters; they feel like well-costumed showroom dummies.
Jolie looks every inch the star, but as with Joan Crawford or Ingrid Bergman, gives a believable and shining performance despite her beauty, while Malkovich hasn’t been this good in years.
Eastwood’s own score aids and abets the process, ladling washes of mournful gloop over a glut of emotional scenes.
Quite simply the best drama of the year, and possibly the best film of 2008 too.
I'm always wary of that overused word 'masterpiece', but this is one film that deserves the accolade.
You will never see a film which so well proves the adage that fact is stranger than fiction.
The bigger the scene, as melodrama intensifies in this movie, the more its truth-based tale turns into grand guignol on the griddle.
There are so many hints of a really good film lurking here that at times it feels as if the real article has been stolen away, an inferior knock-off put in its place. Heck, I'll settle for the one I've got.
Sometimes the grimness and grandeur gel; sometimes they just add up to pompous soaps.
Beautifully made, emotionally gripping drama with a powerful central performance by Angelina Jolie that's sure to attract Oscar buzz.
It's hard to recall a more moving film of recent times than this. That it's based on a true story makes it compelling enough. That director Clint Eastwood has created something so emotionally true is a tribute to him and a cast of a very rare brilliance.
A powerful true story makes this film worth seeing ... but Eastwood chooses to tell this as an over-produced, over-wrought melodrama.
Clint Eastwood's late-life renaissance continues at full steam with a typically understated and emotionally wrenching drama.
It's a strangely arid piece of filmmaking, handsome, respectful, unsensational and thoroughly lifeless.
Angelina delivers a fearless performance in a film that is far from conventional, but oh so lovely to look at.
Latest News for Changeling
February 16, 2009:
RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?
It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which all walk a fine line between Fresh and Rotten) and an even better one if... More...
February 13, 2009:
Exceedingly commendable and daring fact-based Hollywood filmmaking. And resonant with an integrity and uncompromising truth certain to give the best of outsider indies a run for their money. A seasoned Hollywood screenwriter couldn't make this stuff up. ![]()
More...
February 13, 2009:
Exceedingly commendable and daring fact-based Hollywood filmmaking. And resonant with an integrity and uncompromising truth certain to give the best of outsider indies a run for their money. A seasoned Hollywood screenwriter couldn't make this stuff up. ![]()
More...
January 15, 2009:
BAFTA Nominations Announced ![]()
The full list of nominations for this year's BAFTA Film Awards. More...
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