'Amelia' fails to fly

After her solo trip over the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart became more than just one of the women and almost one of the men, striking a powerful blow for women's rights all before World War II.

But in “Amelia,” Earhart (Hilary Swank) comes across less as one of the men and more as one of the boys, filled with an obnoxious pluck and paper-thin charm. 

It is curious that the film’s Earhart should seem that way, as this movie is ironically juvenile in its equally bland and amateurish dialogue, starry-eyed excuse for acting, simplistic editing and effects and loose, paltry story structure. “Amelia” is less like a biopic and more like a 4th grader’s book report. 

That may seem harsh, but anyone can write a screenplay on Earhart’s life based on her Wikipedia entry. She clearly did a lot, but the movie would like to focus on all her achievements and battles rather than just a select, powerful few. What we learn about the woman is spread very thin, and the film never gets to the deeper root of her ambitions. 

The results are remarkably dull, and even when so much is going on the pace of “Amelia” still feels rushed. One moment she’s facing adversity from the men in her life, the next she’s on one of her treacherous flights. Then we learn about her skepticism toward advertising and commercialization. And finally, the film dives into the love triangle with her publicist and husband George Putnam (Richard Gere) and Washington aeronautics engineer Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). 

To accommodate so many story lines, the dialogue suffers and we are treated not just to the cliches of the biopic, but also those of the sports movie, action travelogue and Nicholas Sparks-esque romance.  

It’s a disaster, and it’s a pain to see these respectable actors suffer through this. Swank treats every scene as though it were an opportunity to monologue, and the cookie-cutter lines are already so thin, it’s no wonder we cringe at how fascinated she pretends to be while saying them.

Earhart is such an iconic figure that it’s a shame “Amelia” is the movie her life has become.