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Simply A Masterpiece

Lack of good storyline.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The life of celebrated but reclusive author, J.D. Salinger, who gained worldwide fame with the publication of his novel, "The Catcher in the Rye". Rebel in the Rye has a nice perfomance from Kevin Spacey but i can't say the same for everyone also who is bland or feels like is bored. The whole script is a mess and the story it tries to tell isn't even that interesting to begin with. (5/10)

"Rebel in the Rye" (2017 release; 106 min.) brings the story of the early years of "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger ("Jerome David, my friends call me Jerry"). As the movie opens, we see Salinger struggling in a care center. We then go "6 Years Earlier - 1939", and we get to know the young man as a college drop-out who likes to impress women--but fails. When he introduces himself as a writer to a young lade, she asks him "What have you published?", and he is speechless (he hasn't published anything--but now he forms a plan: return to college (now at Columbia) and take a Creative Writing class. By chance he ends up in Professor Burnett's class. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the directing debut of former actor and current writer-producer (for the "Empire" TV series, among others) Danny Strong. With the credentials he has, and the tumultuous early years in Salinger's life, one (at least, I) would expect a rousing and drama-filled movie. Alas, one could be very wrong. This movie feels as if it's strictly by-the-numbers. Salinger's incredible WWII years (the man was at D Day, no less) are glossed over in a few minutes and fail to leave any gravitas. Salinger's early struggles as a writer also miss the mark. Likewise with his ups and downs in romance. British actor Nicholas "X-Men" Hoult leaves me completely unmoved as Salinger. There are a couple of plus points that I want to mention: Kevin Spacey is having a ball as the Columbia professor (and mentor) of Salinger. Zoe Deutsch is delightful in the small role as one of Salinger's early love interests. And there is a delightful original score, composed by Bear McCreary. Finally, the movie's title is an all too obvious (and awkward) attempt to synthesize "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Catcher in the Rye" into one. Truth be told, Salinger may have been many things, but a rebel? Not hardly. If you really want to learn more about Salinger, I'd readily recommend the "Salinger" documentary of a few years ago. It is miles ahead of "Rebel in the Rye"."Rebel in the Rye" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (5 people, including myself), although the gorgeous and warm Fall evening may have had something to do with that. I can't see this playing very long in the theater, so if you are curious about this movie, you're likely to check it out on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Fiction has become Jerry's most successful pickup line. The culturally accepted version of lying that is: Short stories with arrogant and witty protagonists. Boys with blistering thoughts and sharp words, his characters observe only to formulate their next jab. This aggressive form of storytelling wins him affection from women, and disapproval from professors. Jerry writes himself into his stories, and the characters suffer an identity crisis as a result. His voice swallows up the narrative and the plot suffocates in an ooze of style. Of course, he is blissfully unaware of this clash until Whit lectures him into the floorboards. An editor of Story magazine, Whit still teaches at Columbia to support his fruitless career in writing.Whit is the first jaded wise man that Jerry encounters on his journey to self-actualization. The veteran abandons his podium often, knowing that Jerry requires a confrontational teaching approach. Sniffing out Jerry's talent, Whit chastised the young artist with noble purpose. A will stronger than titanium, Jerry's character needs to be re- purposed into an insatiable drive. Greatness comes at a grave cost. Even watering greatness involves countless occupational hazards. The fallout of success contains a special strand of toxicity. Jerry does not become drunk on his notoriety, but rather uses it as an excuse to alienate everything that does not pertain to the magic carpet that delivered him to the clouds.Jerry's second teacher reinforces this pursuit of isolation in the name of exterminating distractions. The stench from his daydreams sends him to the floor where he becomes enchanted by his breaths. Meditation becomes weaponized within his domestic context, and his productivity only wounds his family.Whit told Jerry very early on that writing is never about publication, it is about producing without ceasing with no guarantees of recognition. This cozy proverb morphs into an ugly manifesto. A global conflict gives Jerry a muse, but the magnum opus has nothing to do with death. But then again, his masterpiece might have everything to do with death.

It's difficult for a movie to capture and display the magic of writing, and this movie proves it. The actor playing Salinger is given a pompous screenplay to work with. Salinger comes off as dogmatic and humorless, and maybe he was, to some people, but I think this would've worked better if we heard some of those magic descriptions spoken. Every one of Salinger's Nine Stories is a gem. I know there's intellectual property laws, but I saw a documentary on Charles Bukowski and we see his lines printed out on the movie screen as Bukowski speaks them. It's Salinger's art that fascinates and touches. We should see it, up there.