Richard Jewell

Synopsis: Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) was a security guard at the 1996 Atlanta  Olympics who discovered a lethal explosive device and thereby saved many lives. But within days he was the FBI’s prime, indeed only, suspect in the bombing and he is turned upon by the media.

Clint Eastwood’s latest film is a solidly entertaining if unremarkable work but given that the director is soon to turn ninety achieving what he has, even if an extra-filmic consideration, is impressive.  Eastwood’s C.V. is a diverse one but whether dealing in fiction or fact he evidently has a strong interest in the phenomenon of heroism.  His 2016 film Sully looked at the way in which Captain "Sully" Sullenberger was initially hailed as a saviour then accused of endangering the lives of his passengers. In a similar manner with Richard Jewell the primary focus is the character of its eponymous protagonist and way he deals with sudden adulation then an equally rapid fall from grace as a shoddy FBI investigation and trial by media turned his fifteen minutes into his worst nightmare.

Richard Jewell tells what is a small story in the greater scheme of things and Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray don’t try to pump it up but rather take a laid-back, wryly comedic approach to it. Partly this is due to the casting of Hauser in the title role. Some audiences will remember him as the delusional friend and would-be fixer in  I,Tonya (2017). John Candy-fat (Australian audiences will also think of Shane Jacobson’s  Kenny) Jewell  has a dedication to his low-level rent-a-cop job, an unquenchable dream of being a law enforcement officer and a naïve openness of nature (he lives at home with his mother, well-played by an Oscar-nominated Kathy Bates) at which one can’t help but smile.

The comedic approach is continued by the casting of Sam Rockwell as Jewell's lawyer, Watson Bryant. A large part of the film is devoted to the relationship between the two men with Ray’s seamless script giving them plenty of amusing exchanges as Bryant struggles to keep Jewell from digging himself a deeper hole.  Even the bad guys, Agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) and stop-at-nothing reporter, Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde), are more satirical creations than flesh and blood people (Shaw was a composite creation and Scruggs who died of an overdose in 2001 struggled with depression).

Sadly Jewell died aged 44 of diabetes-related illness in 2007. I suspect that he would have liked this film. 

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