Georgetown (2021)

Score: 2.5 / 5

It's a real story, if disguised by layers of conceit. Georgetown is the curious crime drama that, although based on a shocking case, leans more into the drama than in the case itself. Comprising fraud and murder in the heart of DC, the crimes here are appalling but not quite shocking. In a world of socialites and political climbers, we see countless meetings in which people communicate primarily through acronyms and sly references to elite events. It's almost funny to see the ways people of wealth and influence ignore the vagaries of specifics and bend over backwards to accommodate complete strangers who simply sound impressive and name-drop the right tidbits. Almost, I say, because this behavior mobilizes the avaricious to deadly ends.

Enter Christoph Waltz. The character actor is far from one of my favorites, and here he acts as both antihero and director. His character, Ulrich Mott (barely changed from his real-life counterpart Albrecht Muth), works in DC near the beginning of the film as an intern on Capitol Hill. Fired in a hilarious scene, after openly lying to a group of tourists, he hunts for his next "in." He spots it, like a lion picking out the weakest in the herd, in an aging socialite recently widowed. Elsa Brecht (the always brilliant Vanessa Redgrave), a popular journalist and author near the age of ninety, grieves until Mott materializes in front of her. She seems amused, almost as if he were her own intern, and encourages him to make important social and political connections. As he leeches off her expertise and influence, he becomes -- as the film makes note via what amounts to onscreen chapter titles -- a butler, a diplomat, and finally her new husband, despite being some decades her junior.

Unfortunately, the film -- written by David Auburn of Proof and The Girl in the Park -- is too enamored of Mott to give its audience real meat to savor. You can get essentially the same information from watching the film as you can from reading its source material, the New York Times Magazine article "The Worst Marriage in Georgetown," though with more salacious art. Sure, in real life, we learn that Brecht's counterpart is Viola Herms Drath, advisor to many public figures including George H.W. Bush, and that Muth was 44 years younger than she. But I wanted details on his life -- where he really came from, how he got so far, and what his real goals were in perpetuating his own fraud -- rather than just seeing it play out on screen.

Waltz may not be my favorite, but he plays the sleazy character impeccably well. Annette Bening pops in for a few delicious scenes as Brecht's daughter, suspicious of her mother's new lover, and Corey Hawkins joins in as Mott's defense attorney after the murder. But neither of them are given much chance to shine as they are usually able. I'm not sure if it's Waltz's flaccid direction or the screenplay focused on all the wrong things that didn't fit for me, but this movie worked best by making me wish it had more to offer. Thankfully we get a nice amount of Vanessa Redgrave, who is always welcome in my eyeballs.