Stone
starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich and Frances Conroy
written by Angus MacLachlan
directed by John Curran
Rating: ♦◊◊◊◊
Boring. Then dull. Then a little depressing. With actors like Robert Di Niro and Edward Norton in it, it should have been smokin’. De Niro plays a Michigan parole officer who is compromised after being seduced by the wife of an inmate whose parole board hearing he is helping to prepare. The experience undermines everything he ever believed in until he realizes, near retirement, that everything he ever believed and valued is nothingness. What a way to start your retirement.
All the characters have such dull lives. Is this what average Americans’ lives are like? Dull. Religion is their opiate, and not a very good one at that. Karl Marx was right. Religious talk radio often serves as a background sound effect and we can hear a lot of amateur theological sound bites. Amateur theology seems to be what prevails among American Christians. That’s a problem that permeates their culture.