FBI chief still a mystery in 'J. Edgar'

Period details, well-practiced accents, Leonardo DiCaprio in elaborate aging makeup -- Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar" goes through its Oscar checklist with a methodic thoroughness that its subject, J. Edgar Hoover, might have appreciated. As for the same-sex kiss on-screen, probably not so much.

A Hollywood biopic in the old-fashioned mode, "J. Edgar" is expensively made and impressive to look at, but never terribly illuminating. That may be because of Hoover himself, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a man who made sure his own dossier remained empty. DiCaprio plays him with impressive consistency from intense young manhood to sour dotage, but Hoover remains an uncrackable code, unknowable to the end.

The elephant in this room is, of course, Hoover's sexuality. Clues were hidden in plain sight: The unmarried Hoover spent an awful lot of time with his associate director, Clyde Tolson (an engaging Armie Hammer, of "The Social Network"). But the script, by Dustin Lance Black ("Milk"), walks a fine line between respecting facts and embracing rumors. Eastwood paints a near-caricature of a closeted homosexual, complete with an overbearing mother (Judi Dench) and a scene of agonized cross-dressing that inadvertently recalls "Psycho."

Hoover's void of personality affects other characters as well. Why did he earn lifelong loyalty from his secretary of 54 years, Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts), not to mention from Tolson (who occasionally explodes with jealousy)? Nobody seems to know, including the filmmakers.

Ultimately, the salient facts about Hoover -- his abuses of power, his help in the Lindbergh baby case, his role in the creation of modern forensics -- are lost in all the uneasy speculation over his personal life. Hoover remains a riddle wrapped in a mystery, which is probably exactly how he wanted it.

PLOT The decidedly unauthorized biography of the FBI's first director

CAST Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench

LENGTH 2:17

PLAYING AT Opens today in Manhattan at Lincoln Square 13 and Union Square Stadium 14 ; Friday on Long Island

BOTTOM LINE Impressive period detail and strong work from DiCaprio, but this speculative biography leaves Hoover as much of an enigma as ever.