Reviews For 'The Monuments Men'

Reviews for 'The Monuments Men' are rolling in and they're...sad. I had such high hopes for this movie. I like George Clooney. He's always looking for quality. I almost always like him in movies. I'll probably like Clooney, as well as the chemistry between the other leads, in 'The Monuments Men', though it's looking like there won't be much else to enjoy.

From Todd McCarthy:

The Monuments Men wears its noble purpose on its sleeve when either greater grit or more irreverence could have put the same tale across to modern audiences with more punch and no loss of import.

Exactly the vibe I got from trailers. Tim Grierson has much the same sentiment:

The Monuments Men tries to mix humour and drama, Dirty Dozen-style heroics and Ocean’s Eleven­-esque charm, failing to ever properly land on one consistent tone or direction.

Drew Taylor hits pretty much the same note:

Clooney talked openly about having a hard time nailing down the tone of "The Monuments Men," since it oscillates so wildly between goofiness and heart-tugging sentimentality, and the final product shows that he was never able to reconcile these two halves of the story.

Jeff Wells assessment borders on maudlin. In a write up he entitled 'Year's First Heartbreak' he says:

It pains me to say this but George Clooney's The Monuments Men (Sony, 2.7) is a write-down. It doesn’t work. It ambles and rambles and tries for a mixture of soft-shoe charm and solemn pathos, but it never lights the oven or lifts off the ground or whatever creative-engagement metaphor you prefer. It breaks my heart to say this.

It breaks my heart as well. How much I had wanted this movie to make a charge for an Oscar. Now, it's February, the awards are over, nobody will go see 'The Monuments Men' and...