I was due for a true clunker of a movie. I’ve seen a lot of good ones lately, and even the so-so ones were still enjoyable. So I knew a letdown was eminent.
Based on a true story, The Monuments Men tells the story of a group of men trying to recapture art stolen by Hitler Germany. This becomes more dire as the movie progresses, when a notice is given by Hitler himself to destroy all stores if the event of his death or Germany’s fall. I have a soft spot for the fine arts, so I really wanted to like this movie. While it does showcase some fine actors, it never became a good movie.
This movie never seems to find its footing, or even decide what kind of film it wants to be. It is supposed to be a comedy-drama, and tries to do both to the max. There are quirky, almost unbelievable moments and dialogue (complete with slapstick-ish music), followed by extremely serious and (supposed to be) heartfelt scenes. Because of this, it fell flat for me and rang false overall. The ending was pretty anticlimactic as well, and I left with the impression that George Clooney just called a bunch of friends and said, “Hey, lets make a movie next weekend, anyone have any ideas?” and Matt Damon surfed Wikipedia until he saw an article on this historic group. The only thing this movie did was draw attention to perhaps a lessor known side war going on in the greater scope of World War II, so at least it led me home to open up my computer and research a little.
Jons Movie Takes 