Film Snail

Joe Bell
Joe Bell

6.5

Joe Bell

R·2020·93m

Summary

The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.

Crew

Director

Reinaldo Marcus Green

Writer

Diana Ossana

Writer

Larry McMurtry

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

April 13, 2022

6

Reid Miller is quite engaging here as the bullied gay youngster Jadin Bell. His time at school is torrid, and he seems unable to secure any help to protect him from the bigoted assholes he must face each day. His father (Mark Wahlberg) is supportive, but in a 'don't ask don't tell" sort of fashion, the appalling position also taken by the principal at his school. Eventually, the pressure all just proves too much and the young man takes his own life. This inspires his father to try to walk from their home to New York raising the issues of homophobia and bullying as he goes. Wahlberg's name is what will do the work here; his participation in highlighting these issues of both physical and psychological intimidation ought to resound with whomever watches this, reads about it, or sees any of his publicity blurb. As a piece of cinema, though, it's pretty mediocre. Barring a scene with the two leads doing a bit of a Lady Gaga routine, the drama and the acting are fairly sterile and it takes recourse to a few handsome, but cop-out, power ballads when the script runs out of anything meaningful to say. It's a shocking testament that this still goes on in 2022 in a nation that purports to be civilised - and though this film, in itself, is largely forgettable, let's hope the message isn't.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$3,500,000.00

Revenue:

$1,700,000.00

Keywords

high school
suicide
writing
cheerleader
bullying
based on true story
flashback
flash forward
high school student
teenage sexuality
lgbt
grieving father
teenage son
anti-bullying
gay youth
gay theme