Based on a true story, this Mark Wahlberg-led drama follows a man on a mission across America – walking from Idaho to New York City to raise awareness of bullying, particularly in LGBT teenagers after his son comes out as gay.
Wahlberg is the Joe Bell of the title, a working class family man from a small town called La Grande in Oregon on the Unites States’ Pacific North West. The film is told in a non-linear structure; we first meet Joe out on the road part way through his journey to NYC, but we see flashbacks to the lead up to his decision to start his epic trip. We see Jadin (impressive newcomer Reid Miller) come out to his father – seemingly after already telling his mother (Connie Britton) – joining the cheerleader squad, much to his father’s dismay and apparent embarrassment, and then be heckled by his school peers and internet trolls. These plot points are sprinkled between certain milestones on Joe’s physical journey as he travels from high school to high school to give brief talks on LGBT bullying, the father often getting widespread media attention as he progresses.
Some spoilers follow if you’re unaware of this story, which is based on true events.
We learn part way into the film that Jadin committed suicide after constant harassment in the schoolyard and through horrific social media trolling. However, his story made national news Stateside and indeed brought nationwide attention to father Joe’s cause and his epic journey which would take two years. This film version manages to keep that from its audience until well into the first third, and it hits hard when you come to realise that Joe is solo on his trip, an imagined version of his son accompanying him in his thoughts, though presented in physical form on screen for a number of key scenes. This largely works because of the two actors’ excellent turns, Reid Miller in particular as the tortured Jadin, but also Wahlberg as the devastated father in pursuit of some kind of personal forgiveness for his own ignorance. It’s true, this is Walhberg at his finest for ages – perhaps his best and most honest film for decades and a huge, welcomed deviance from his usual big-budget fare.
As a whole, the film mostly works, and at a nice and tidy ninety minutes, the narrative moves at a quick pace. Reinaldo Marcus Green secures a solid follow-up to his TIFF 2018 feature Monsters and Men, while the pairing of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for the first time since their Oscar-laden Brokeback Mountain will also gain the film extra attention. While Good Joe Bell succeeds in most of what it is trying to do, it doesn’t quite reach the masterful quality and those ground-breaking, shattering heights that Ang Lee’s stunning award winner from 2005 managed.
Good Joe Bell‘s message can certainly be heard loud and clear, and its cast – look out for Gary Sinise as an almost scene-stealing police officer towards the end – should give the film some awards attention come the spring.
Good Joe Bell
Summary
Solidly told if a sometimes a little by the numbers . There is some some excellent action on display, particularly from newcomer Reid Miller as Jadin, plus an honest, brilliant turn from its leading man, Mark Wahlberg.
