'Changeling'

Rating:

BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

October 24, 2008

There seems to be some misunderstanding, thanks no doubt to the title, that Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" possesses something supernatural, or at least psychodramatic. Nothing could be further from the truth. Angelina Jolie's Christine Collins - whose son went missing in 1928 Los Angeles, and whose efforts to find him led her to being abused, arrested and imprisoned - is merely a victim of a system portrayed as cruel, sadistic and too stupid for its own political good. Out of such stuff, riveting drama is not quite made.

The film looks good, and there are some solid performances: John Malkovich, as the radio reformer Rev. Gustav Briegleb, is first-rate, as is Geoff Pierson, as lawyer S.S. Hahn, one of the people who eventually comes to Christine's rescue. But by that point, "Changeling" has given us missing children, insane asylums, corrupt cops, a serial murderer, a glimpse inside the works of a flapper-era Los Angeles telephone company and enough portentous foreshadowing to stock eight Greek tragedies.

The acting, though, is particularly unstable: The various children are unconvincing, Jeffrey Donovan as the corrupt cop and Christine's tormentor, J.J. Jones, seems to be in some other movie, and Jolie ... well, it may be possible that no movie is big enough to contain or control her. At no time is one unaware that one is watching Angelina Jolie, which is too bad because she isn't incompetent, just incapable - of acting her way out from under her own persona.

Rated R.

PLOT In 1928 Los Angeles, a woman loses her son, the police bring the wrong boy back, and her life becomes a Dante-esque nightmare.

CAST Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Amy Ryan

LENGTH 2:20

PLAYING AT City Cinemas, AMC Loews Lincoln Square, Regal Union Square, Manhattan. Opening wide on Oct. 31

BOTTOM LINE A film lacking in dramatic propulsion and actorly grace from Clint Eastwood, a director usually synonymous with both.