Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has long been said to be an unfilmable book. The novel is an exaggerated look at the 60s in which an idyllic father loses his daughter to radical ideals. The novel is funny yet tragic and often has the sense of boiling rage to it. Ewan McGregor's adaptation is a flatline of a film, removing all the self-loathing and amping up the middling thriller elements.
There is no doubt that McGregor had passion for the project. He has been wanting to play Seymour "Swede" Levov for years as this project got stalled again and again. It is why he made the film his directorial debut. The Scottish born actor may seem like an odd choice to play a Jewish American football star and it is. His accent work is consistently distracting.
The film never seems to understand the root of the work here and builds the film oddly as a mystery. Swede's daughter Merry (Dakota Fanning) goes missing after bombing a post-office and killing a man in an attempt to protest the Vietnam War. Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) is the wife and mother who slowly accepts the lose and wants to move on even as Swede continues to search for her.
Connelly acts her guts out here and is by far the most interesting character. Dawn is a woman who's position atop society of this small town has never been threatened. Her daughter's actions do so. The film however isn't interested in her and focuses solely on Swede and his obsession to rebuild his American dream of a family.
Merry comes off as a one-note character. One has to imagine her novel counterpoint is far more complex. Here though Fanning plays her strictly as an angry youth. The character never garnishes sympathy because she acts like a brat more often than a deeply stressed out character fighting the expectations her parents put on her.
The filmmaking on display doesn't help the film either. McGregor and his crew shoot the film like TV, and that is not meant as any kind of compliment. The film never feels cinematic in its vision. It relies on routine news footage from the era and predictable period music including the cliched "For What It's Worth" playing over footage of Vietnam. The editing is inconsistent and clunky, often cutting moments short instead of letting things linger.
The film uses a framing device of a man who admired the Swede and is looking back at his life while at a high school reunion. Perhaps this structure worked in the novel but here it kept raising questions like who is this guy and how could be so enamored with Swede. The film doesn't seem to know and that is a big part of the problem.
2/5
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