Who’s In It: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Mia Wasikowska, Joe Anderson
Aviation History 101: Once upon a time there was a woman named Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank). She REALLY liked airplanes and became the poster gal for female aeronautics during the Depression by hitching a ride on a trans-Atlantic flight. After marrying her greedy publisher (Richard Gere) and having an affair with a plane expert (Ewan McGregor), she finally decided to earn all those endorsement deals by being the first person to circumnavigate the world! No points for guessing how that turned out.
What’s The Deal: Director Mira Nair has crafted a modestly pretty Earhart biopic that feels as empty as the wide open skies. When you know how a story is going to end, the getting there has to grip you – but, like its protagonist and her self-serving need for freedom, Amelia doesn’t care how you feel. It just wants to fly freely through beautifully contrived scenery: over the watery Atlantic, above the clouds, down in the dysfunction of Earhart’s bloodless marriage. And for two pulsating seconds, smack into a steamy affair with Ewan McGregor. A film about a pioneering airplane-flying feminist who disappeared mysteriously into the ocean shouldn’t be this boring.
Get Over Yourself, Amelia: Too much of the film feels manufactured to make us love and admire a woman who was kind of stubborn and selfish. Even when she acts like a reckless jerk, the film points fingers at everyone else instead of demanding an explanation for her actions. Earhart sold out to cash in during the Great Depression? Blame her money-grubbing husband. She had an affair that threatened her marriage? Call it spiritual freedom. She piloted herself and her navigator to a (presumed) watery grave? Well, he was a drunk. So, you know, it wasn’t her fault.
They’re No Bogie And Bacall: For a large part of Amelia’s nearly two-hour runtime, the chemistry between Swank and Gere is virtually nonexistent. It doesn’t help that Swank looks like a teenage farm boy in Earhart’s signature cropped hair, menswear, and gigantic buck teeth. Together, they win Un-Sexiest Couple of the Year.
Do I Hear Oscar Knocking? Hilary Swank is a two-time Oscar winner. Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair) wishes she had an Oscar. Amelia is their bid at this year’s awards race, and unfortunately Amelia is the classic example of empty awards bait: a story about an iconic figure starring an Oscar-caliber cast wrapped up in a handsome film that just feels so… standard. But for most of us outside the Academy, it’s too bland: a biopic about a complex woman that glosses over all the things that made her interesting to begin with.