Richard Jewell Parent Guide

“I feel like I was meant for something better than this.” This assertion by lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) serves as a fitting summary for Richard Jewell, a real-life story that deserves something better than an unsatisfying movie sabotaged by lazy writing.

The film is based on the experiences of Richard Jewell (portrayed with bone-deep sincerity by Paul Walter Hauser), a wannabe cop who’s been fired from jobs as a deputy sheriff and college security officer. Jewell’s heartfelt desire to protect people is unfortunately combined with an officious personality, possible intellectual impairment, social awkwardness, poor judgment, and no sense of the limits of his authority. Luckily, the Olympics come to Atlanta in 1996 and Jewell gets hired as a security guard in what he believes is a second chance at a law enforcement career. When Jewell notices an unattended backpack, he becomes suspicious and calls in the police. The pipe bomb in the backpack explodes, but Jewell’s instincts have given the police time to move the crowd away from the bomb, saving hundreds of lives. Jewell is lauded as a hero, with media interviews and a book offer. And then the FBI gets suspicious…

This is the point at which the movie’s weaknesses become glaringly obvious. Jewell is a complex person, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes pitiable, sometimes aggravating. But his antagonists are one note characters. Agent Tom Shaw (a fictional character played by Jon Hamm) appears to be motivated solely by an inexplicable personal animosity against Jewell. And local reporter Kathy Scruggs (portrayed by Olivia Wilde) is so nakedly ambitious, so wantonly amoral that she feels like some kind of Disney cartoon villain. (In fact, the portrayal of the late Kathy Scruggs is so defamatory that the Atlanta Journal Constitution has threatened to sue Director Clint Eastwood and Warner Brothers.) Even Jewell’s lawyer, Watson Bryant, is not presented with any subtlety. A bumper sticker in his office reads “I fear government more than I fear terrorism”, clearly telegraphing his anti-authoritarian, libertarian sensibilities. While comic films can succeed brilliantly by pitting complex characters against caricatures, this is the kiss of death for drama. It is impossible to have a deep, compelling conflict when the antagonists are cardboard cutouts; the result will always feel hollow.

Also disappointing are the content issues in Richard Jewell. Extensive swearing, including over two dozen sexual expletives, push the film outside the boundaries of family viewing. Add in a female character who seduces a cop for information and an exploding bomb, and this clearly isn’t a movie for kids or impressionable teens.

This movie’s weaknesses are particularly unfortunate because Richard Jewell should be a film that raises big questions about the ethics of media reporting and the limits on the power of law enforcement, particularly in the face of terrorism. And while the events of the movie took place in 1996, these issues have only grown more pressing in a post-9/11 world.

In a mirror to Bryant’s statement of personal entitlement, Jewell at one point says to his mother, “The world owes me better than this.” And the theater owes you something better than this in exchange for your hard-earned cash.