Presidential in tone, if not voice
More an engaging character sketch than an incisive portrait of the man who would become the 36th president of the United States, Rob Reiner’s “LBJ” makes for an attentively presented but oddly unrewarding viewing experience despite a persuasive Woody Harrelson lead performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Beginning with the colorfully outspoken Senate majority leader losing the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination to “show horse” JFK ( played, not as convincingly, by Jeffrey Donovan), the story continually — and distractingly — pivots back to the ill- fated Dallas motorcade in tracing Johnson’s unconventional route to the White House. But if Harrelson disappears into the role aided by some pronounced prosthetics, he’s not the only one to do so, and that’s the problem.
While Reiner hasn’t pre- viously shied away from tackling social- political themes, be it an astute comedy like “The American President” or the more serious “Ghosts of Mississippi,” he maintains a curious, respectful distance here, as if preferring to let the subject matter speak for itself.
That might have been f ine if he had the crisp authority of an Aaron Sorkin ( who penned “The American President”) at his disposal, but while screenwriter Joey Hartstone has obviously done his homework, there’s an inescapably anonymous quality to the proceedings.
“LBJ” would have benefited from a more distinctive voice.
“LBJ.” Rating: R, for language. Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes. Playing: In general release.