A bland and rather forgettable biopic of a woman that deserved better.
At one point in this film a man asks Jean, "Who is Jean Seberg?" The problem is we could just as easily ask our selves the same question after watching this movie. She was a movie actress who had great success in France, she was a supporter of the Black Panthers and that got her into trouble. Unfortunately if we are to just go by this film that is all we know about her. This film never delves into who the person behind all this is.
Everything is extremely oversimplified here. Every character is either a clear cut good guy or a clear cut bad guy in the most black and white terms possible. This is an overtly political movie that jams a message we can surely understand down our throats. The message is so crystal clear, yet the film seems to believe that if it does not constantly have clumsy dialogue delivering this message in the most clear cut and obnoxious way possible we wouldn't get it. This made me feel extremely talked down to, as well as giving the film a repetitive and overlong feeling. All this made the film simply a chore to watch at times.
None of this was helped by very cliché storytelling that feels like a million biopics we have seen before. This is especially true when it comes to the dialogue. This dialogue is too on the nose and tries to sound exactly like every other biopic. This is just simply clumsy writing.
Kristen Stewart gives her whole hear to this film and turns in a surprisingly good performance (plus she looks a lot like Jean Seberg here). Still even this is hampered by the fact that she can only do so much with the dialogue she was given.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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