Review: Changeling

While not as entertaining as Slumdog Millionaire, Changeling is an interesting film to watch...if you have the patience. Clocking in at 141 minutes (still shorter than Benjamin Button), Changeling is a lengthy depiction of Los Angeles in the late 1920s. Based on real events, it is a worthwhile piece of historical fiction.

The film follows three plot lines that intersect--the disappearance of nine-year-old Walter Collins, the corruption and ineptitude of the LAPD, and the gruesome crimes committed by Gordon Northcott. Angelina Jolie gives an excellent performance as Christine Collins, the distressed single mother of Walter. Director Clint Eastwood does a better job in Changeling than he did with Million Dollar Baby, which I found predictable and dull.

Had Eastwood or writer J. Michael Straczynski cut some of the mundane dialogue from the script, this film would have been twenty minutes shorter and more entertaining.