Review: Suburbicon

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

There's a whole lot of talent involved in "Suburbicon," a movie with two stories that never quite successfully coalesce, but the results are, unfortunately, middling. This is a film that can't decide whether it's a satire, straightforward thriller or socially conscious period piece.

The film's director is George Clooney, an actor who has proven that he has talent behind the camera, and two of the picture's four screenwriters are Joel and Ethan Coen. The cast includes Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac and a bunch of other great character actors. And yet, "Suburbicon" never truly gels.

The picture opens with an ad for the titular town and gives an annotated history of the blossoming of the suburb. The film is set in the late 1950s and as the story opens, a black family is moving into the town of Suburbicon, much to the dismay of the town's predominantly racist population. One of the film's few funny jokes is during the prelude, during which the town is referred to as diverse, which we learn means that white families have moved there from New York, Mississippi and Ohio.

One of the many issues with "Suburbicon" is that, other than a few characters, nearly every person who appears onscreen is repulsive - to an extent that seems near impossible. The film's protagonist, Nicky (Noah Jupe), who lives next door to the black family, is prompted by his mother and aunt to befriend the new neighbor's son. Meanwhile, the rest of the block takes up a vigil of banging drums and other racket outside the black couple's home to scare them away.

Near the beginning of the film, a tragedy strikes. Two nasty men break into Nicky's home, tie up his mother (Julianne Moore), aunt Margaret (also Julianne Moore), Nicky and his father, Gardner (Matt Damon), and knock them all out with chloroform. However, nothing appears to be stolen and the entire scene comes off as fishy. Nicky's mother, who is wheelchair-bound, dies as a result and the boy's uncle vows to find out who was involved in the home invasion.

Nicky begins to sense something is up shortly afterward when Margaret moves in to his house and takes up with his father, who becomes increasingly nasty. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen Damon play such an outright villain. His character in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" comes off as a Boy Scout in comparison. Moore's aunt also gives Nicky a creepy vibe and it begins to appear as if the boy could be in danger himself.

One of the biggest problems with "Suburbicon" is its attempt to juggle the story involving the murder of Nicky's mother and his growing distrust of his father with the story of the black couple being taunted by Nicky's racist neighbors. At times, it feels like two films being blended together that merely share a similar setting and era, but not much else.

Also, the scenes involving the tormented couple are meant to be moving and anger-inducing - which they are - while the other story is occasionally humorous, but mostly dark and in the manner of the Coens' debut, "Blood Simple." In other words, it doesn't blend well. It's only when Oscar Isaac shows up as an unscrupulous insurance adjuster that "Suburbicon" is made more lively. Otherwise, the film is a blend of tones and concepts that never come together convincingly.

Clooney has shown that he has an eye as a director for period pieces - most notably, "Good Night and Good Luck," but also the decent "Monuments Men" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." But his latest didn't work for me and it's his least successful outing behind the camera.