Joe Bell (2020)
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.
- Reinaldo Marcus Green
- Diana Ossana
- Larry McMurtry
Rating: 6.562/10 by 235 users
Alternative Title:
Good Joe Bell - CA
Joe and Jadin Bell - US
La route du destin - CA
Country:
Luxembourg
Switzerland
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 33 minutes
Budget: $3,500,000
Revenue: $1,700,000
Plot Keyword: 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
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.
