J. Edgar, the historical biopic from Clint Eastwood, provides one of the years biggest disappointments as it delivers an emotionless mess of a film as it sets out to be technically and narratively ambitious but misses the mark altogether. Marred by technical heavy-handedness, a dull script, as well as tonal flaws and a narratively disjointedness throughout, the film can’t live up to the promise its talent offers.

The film follows the life of famed FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover (played throughout his life by Leonardo DiCaprio), bouncing back and forth between Hoover as an older man dictating his biography, with moments throughout his career, showing the major developments in Hoover’s life. The editing between the films “modern time,” near the end of Hoover’s life in 1972, and glimpses throughout his life are disjointed and the jumps simply don’t work the majority of the time.

The film works at its best near the beginning, as it examines Hoover’s early work in the Bureau. Early on in the film, when the story has yet to be muddled by attempting to capture snippets of numerous themes, Eastwood captures a rather interesting rise to power for this figure that deserves a much more interesting story than offered here. Not to mention, the filmmakers make a grave mistake in attempting to age the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Naomi Watts (King Kong) as his lifetime personal assistant, Helen Gandy, and Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as Hoover’s number two and possible love interest, Clyde Tolson, with makeup and prosthetics, whose likenesses in old age are at times simply terrible.

In efforts to age these actors as much as 40 years, the result is a heavy-handed and at times ridiculous look for these characters, as in addition to taking the audience out of the scene with the shock of the look, the makeup also noticeably hinders the actors themselves, particularly when it comes down to them needing to show any emotion behind the copious layers of makeup and prosthetics.

Eastwood weaves in historical figures and events, as well as speculation on Hover as a historical figure throughout. From depicting the search for the Lindbergh baby, and Hoover’s proposed encounters with Charles Lindbergh (Josh Lucas, Poseidon) himself, to his dealings with Robert Kennedy (Jeffrey Donovan, “Burn Notice”), to the obvious suggestions that J. Edgar was, in fact, gay. These themes and snapshots of his life are problematic in that they never bring meaning or art to the film, rather are passive and often incoherent caricatures of historical figures and themes that fail to draw in the viewer or present anything of significance to add to film or history.

The psyche of Hoover is explored and studied in the beginning of the film, particularly when it comes to his interactions with his mother, Annie Hoover (Judi Dench, James Bond) and his assistant, Helen Gandy. These few intriguing moments of the film are quickly swept aside, as Eastwood explores the behavior of Hoover through numerous and varied interactions that never seem to fit together as a single narrative. Because of this storytelling decision, Hoover is not given proper examination as the multi-layered, fascinating individual he was. In fact, the disjointed manner of the film, coupled with an overly-bleak and somber color palette and score leads the film to be overly sluggish and rather boring, two characteristics that definitely don’t accurately describe Hoover as a person.

Instead of featuring any form of linking narrative focus that can deliver intriguing depth to Hoover, the film quickly focuses on the proposed relationship he had with Tolson, although this relationship never gets any focus past a literal suggestion or confirmation, rather than giving any depth or examination to what this relationship meant to both Hoover and Tolson, as well as the lives around them. These factors, coupled with makeup and technical issues, make an otherwise admirable performance by DiCaprio impossible to either appreciate or fully take seriously.

J. Edgar fails to capture any form of coherency or interest in what should be an extremely topical and fascinating analysis of one of the most important figures of the 20th century. Instead, Eastwood attempts a biopic that is simultaneously overly-ambitious technically speaking, while being far too removed from the subject matter to provide any form of important or consequential analysis of who J. Edgar Hoover was in his relationships, policies or inner being.

Grade: D+

Rated: R (For brief strong language.)

J. Edgar opens in limited release November 9, 2011; the film opens nationwide November 11, 2011.