YNOT at the Movies

The Jan 6 Committee is yet to complete its investigation about the attack on the US capital that aimed to alter the results of the 2020 election, even though everyone already knows what the mob was trying to do on that day. However, this is not the first time that a far-right group has attempted to overthrow the US government. In 1933, Major General Smedley Butler revealed to the world that a group of businessmen recruited him to execute a fascist coup against FDR and the US government. That forgotten piece of history is the background story in writer-director David Russell's yawning period drama with a futile title "Amsterdam" (USA 2022 | 134 min.). Instead of telling us what happened in 1933 surrounding the General, the director insisted on making it a comedy by blending in a farcical friendship among two World War I veterans and an artistic nurse. Despite a glamorous production set and a troupe of A-list actors, the film turned out to be neither a thriller about the coup nor a comedy that makes you laugh, over more than two hours of its running time.

The two World War I veterans are Doctor Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) and Harold Woodman (John David Washington), both were injured badly when fighting in France. More specifically, Burt lost an eye. While recovering in a hospital in 1918, they meet an eccentric nurse, Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), who collects shrapnel from soldiers' bodies and makes art pieces out of them. After they leave the hospital, the trio head to Amsterdam (hence the film's title, so the movie could have been called Paris if that was the destination) and live a worry free, but not pain free, life for a while.

That part of the distracting utopia episode is actually a flashback right after a couple of murders in 1933, when Burt and Harold ridiculously become the murder suspects. After returning to the US from Amsterdam, Burt is experimenting with anything he can get his hands on to ease the pain of other World War I veterans. Harold is a lawyer. Valerie is under house arrest by her brother Tom Voze (Rami Malek) and his wife Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy). Somehow connected to the murders, Tom and Libby are involved in a grand scheme of fascist coup against the sitting president Franklin Roosevelt. Part of the scheme is to recruit General Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro) to become their leader, similar to Mussolini or Hitler.

While the law enforcement seemingly absent from actions and definitely without any congressional committee's help, the trio of goof-ball friends play a central role to sabotage the coup effort by convincing the General to be a bait to collect evidence of the fascist group's conspiracy. Simple, isn't it? The rest is history.

At the beginning, the film states: "A lot of this really happened." But after the movie, you'll not be able to tell which part of the film actually happened. Many moments in the film, such as how Burt and Harold are accused of murder, are preposterous. You begin to get the feeling that much of the stuff in the film is made up rather than true history.

The comic tone not only undercuts the credibility of the film, but it also disturbs the pace of the film. The film slowly drags on, then some lame jokes are added, as if the director keeps trying to reignite the energy at a dead party, yet he keeps failing. He neither makes the film a compelling thriller, nor an entertaining comedy. By the third time Burt's fake eye comes out, you feel the trick is exhausting rather than funny.

Luckily, the Jan 6 Committee is not taking David Russell's approach. We are dealing with dead serious business here, nothing is funny about it.

"Amsterdam" opens on Friday, October 7, 2022.