The Monuments Men (Rated T)Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate BlanchettGenre: Historical DramaDwight's Rating: 2 out of 4 stars"Jack of all trades, master of none!" That old saying seems to be an apt descriptor of the new film, "The Monuments Men".Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? One might rightly walk into theaters assuming the former, as most of the promotional trailers highlight the film's few comedic elements. However, this World War II flick is actually being billed as an "action drama". This identity crisis hovers over the movie from beginning to end. The result is a production that comes up short on both comedy or drama fronts, wafting in an unclassifiable netherworld.George Clooney is the director and star, and also co-wrote the screenplay, and must have realized early on that this was going to be a hard sell. That's probably why "The Monuments Men" has been one of the most heavily promoted films in quite a while. I swear I've been seeing promos for this since mid-Fall last year. Clooney's been all over the media promoting this based-on-the-true-story book, "The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History" by Robert M. Edsel. It tells of an unlikely World War II platoon -- most of whom were museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators -- tasked with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves, and returning them to their rightful owners.Even the talented and award-winning cast, including Oscar winners Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett and Jean Dujardin, and Emmy winners Bill Murray and John Goodman, can't make what little drama there is more compelling, or move the comedic needle beyond slight smile-inducing moments. There is a sense that something is missing. These characters might be skilled at rescuing stolen art from the Nazis, but they can't save a feather-weight script and plot.One of the few highpoints, the performances by the always excellent Cate Blanchett and Matt Damon. Blanchett's role is very small, but as often seems to be the case with almost any project she's involved, she's the best part of the movie. And her chemistry with Damon in undeniable. But their semi-romantic storyline doesn't quite fit in.As we are exposed to yet another insidious and perverse side of Nazi Germany, I once again began to imagine what would have happened if things had gone the other way with this war; that general lack of any real action in the movie allowed my mind to wander and drift off and explore some of the frightening possibilities.Don't get me wrong, there is some historical value here. Seventy years later, we get to see another aspect of a war we may have thought we knew everything about. The story of these men, and their important work to preserve history, is definitely one that needed to be told. And cinematically, we are treated to beautiful images of Europe, even if it is during war time, and almost everything has been reduced to rubble.But this might have been a little more exciting had it been a documentary. In the end, it is the inverse of another old saying, with the sum of its parts being greater than the whole. o Dwight Strachan is the host/producer of " Morning Blend" on Guardian Radio. He is a television producer and writer, and an avid TV history and film buff. Email: dwight@nasguard.com
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