Delayed Reaction: J. Edgar

The Pitch: You know, I think J. Edgar Hoover was gay.

I don't really want to talk about this movie. It's pretty forgettable. The story is pretty meandering. It's a "by the numbers" biopic with a hint of salaciousness. Clint Eastwood movies are pretty hit-or-miss. I didn't hate it, but I got nothing out of it, which is worse in a lot of ways.

Instead, I'd like to reflect on Leonardo DiCaprio and the Oscars for a moment. This wasn't an Oscar nominated performance for him, but it sure feels like one. While his Wolf of Wall Street loss is the moment that I knew he'd win the Oscar for his next major role, I think J. Edgar planted the seed. He had a nomination drought between 2006 (for Blood Diamond, but not The Departed) and 2013 (The Wolf of Wall Street). In that time, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, and Inception weren't enough to get back in. The J. Edgar "snub" came the same year that Meryl Streep won her long overdue 3rd Oscar for a similar role in The Iron Lady. That's when Leonardo became Meryl, without the nominations. She just won with an identical role. She has set the record for Oscar nominations, often getting them despite being in sub par movies. Leo, on the other hand, repeatedly ends up on the other side of the nomination cut. Even after J. Edgar, he missed nominations for The Great Gatsby and Django Unchained. By the time that he lost for The Wolf of Wall Street (Sidenote: He was never going to win for that against the McConaissance), public sentiment was that he had to win the next one regardless, because there would always be an excuse to choose someone else. So yeah, I'm crediting J. Edgar with Leo's Oscar with for The Revenant. Otherwise, I'd've just had to come up with a couple hundred words talking about this humdrum FBI period piece. I sure dodged that bullet.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend