'Amelia' review

Take flight? This lame bio-pic never even leaves the ground

By Geoff Berkshire

Posted October 22, 2009

Metromix

Amelia Earhart is one of those historical names everyone recognizes, but how much do we really know about her life? Hilary Swank stars as the famed aviatrix in a film that intercuts her doomed around-the-world flight with the story of how she made a name for herself in the flying world, as well as her relationships with publicist husband George P. Putnam (Richard Gere) and lover Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor).

The buzz: No one was really clamoring for a movie about Earhart and that built-in indifference is a burden two-time Oscar winner Swank, director Mira Nair (“The Namesake”) and writers Ron Bass (“Rain Man”) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (“Gorillas in the Mist”) will have to overcome with this PG-rated bio that hasn’t appeared at any major film festivals or stirred much pre-release excitement.

The verdict: If there’s one thing “Amelia” wants us to know, it’s that Amelia Earhart was her own woman. If there’s another thing…I don’t have a clue what it could be. This strictly old-timey bio-pic feels like perfect weekend matinee material for the old folks home. It’s a timid, snoozy production full of reductive proto-feminist platitudes, passionless affairs of the heart and excitement-free aviation sequences. In one scene Amelia explains she wants her freedom. In the next she displays her can-do attitude. Then she proves herself a risk-taker! Yeah, we get the point. But what’s the point of any of this really? If it’s to get Swank a third Oscar nomination, don’t bet on it. She’s a good actress trapped in a boring, overly idealized role. If it’s to inspire people to follow their dreams and live life to the fullest, it would have been nice to see how Amelia was affected by fame, flying, feminism, anything. And how she affected others. There are no stakes in the film’s portrayal of women, society, pilots, marriage. There’s no context beyond the story of a plucky gal who goes her own way. “Amelia” is competent, inoffensive and flavorless. An American icon deserves far more than that.

Did you know? Plenty of people saw Amy Adams portray Earhart earlier this year for laughs in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” but no one saw comedienne extraordinaire Jane Lynch as Earhart in Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes bio “The Aviator.” Her scene wound up on the cutting room floor. Just the thought of what Lynch could do in a feature length Earhart movie is more exciting than anything you’ll see in “Amelia.”