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Review

A star rating of 2 out of 5.

Presented as an affectionate Second World War mission caper movie in the Dirty Dozen mould, The Monuments Men didn't need to be a work of art, but it still proves a monumental disappointment. That its remarkable premise - a 1945 Allied "treasure hunt" for millions of paintings and sculptures stolen by the Nazis - is true proves an intractable problem for co-writers George Clooney (who also directs and stars as the avuncular team leader) and Grant Heslov, whose respectfully dry fidelity to the facts neutralises the chance of any rip-roaring entertainment. A terrific cast - John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville - are all equally underused in superficially etched roles, while the directorial precision shown in Good Night, and Good Luck deserts Clooney here. A token romantic subplot involving family man Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett's amorous curator fizzles to nothing, and the film plods from leadenly comic vignette (a French village dentist wielding a mallet) to jarringly serious interlude (the gruesome discovery of a barrel full of gold fillings) without ever cohering into a satisfying whole.

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Credits

Cast

rolename
Frank StokesGeorge Clooney
James GrangerMatt Damon
Richard CampbellBill Murray
Claire SimoneCate Blanchett
Walter GarfieldJohn Goodman
Donald JeffriesHugh Bonneville
Jean Claude ClermontJean Dujardin
Preston SavitzBob Balaban
Sam EpsteinDimitri Leonidas
Colonel LangtonSam Hazeldine
Major FeildingMiles Jupp
EmileAlexandre Desplat
DoctorGrant Heslov
President TrumanChristian Rodska

Crew

rolename
DirectorGeorge Clooney

Details

Theatrical distributor
20th Century Fox
Released on
2014-02-14
Languages
English | German | Russian | French | Dutch
Guidance
Violence, swearing.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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