This movie is an ambiguous telling of the personal life and career of J. Edgar Hoover. Considering the subject matter and cast one would have expected a better result from director Clint Eastwood. The back and forth between the past and present was confusing. The rumors of J. Edgar Hoover's sexuality and dressing in women's clothing were glossed over. Also J. Edgar Hoover's use of scandalous information to blackmail politicians as well as powerful and famous people was hinted at but not shown. As others noted below the makeup jobs were atrocious. This movie does not do justice to J. Edgar Hoover's personal life nor his career as Director of the FBI.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives a great performance as the famous FBI Director. The focus of the movie is on the Director's rise to power and fame while having a lifelong affair with another man, that's sharply hinted at in this movie.

Fascinating story about a man I know little about. Dark, dismal with BAD make-up jobs. But VERY informative. Now I know what happened to some of the Marilyn Monroe documents.

During the late '60's part of the film when Hoover runs CoInTelPro, he originally sends agents to infiltrate the peace groups wearing nothing but summer dresses--a huge failure.

An interesting biopic. The man was driven, and he possessed great intellect and foresight. On the flip side, he was an insecure 'mama's boy' with a speech impediment, living a lie 'in the closet', who would dig up some skeletons in others' closets, as leverage on those he disliked, or neurotically believed were conspiring against him. Director/producer Clint Eastwood attempted approaching this bio as a love story, as well. Being a huge fan of his work, I'm sorry to say this fell somewhat short. Kind of dry. I suppose that's to be expected, given the material he had to work with.

Not a memorable entry into DiCaprio's or Eastwood's portfolios. No imagination with the camera and it seemed Leo was barely into the role compared to, say, his portrayal of Howard Hughes in "Aviator" - a far superior bio in my opinion. Substandard ageing make-up on the main characters was distracting. Time-lapse segues seemed clumsy... perhaps with the talents involved and the subject, my expectations were too high but I'd bet Clint and Leo would like a do-over on this one.

It was an honest account of the former FBI director. I did not like the attempt to portray a normal love interest between Edgar and his assitant, however I believe they portrayed Hoover well. The script was good and Leonardo's acting was as always brillant. The historical account that the film gives of both Hoover and the FBI during this period in America was very educational.

J. Edgar ---- By : written by Dustin Lance Black (DVD - 2012). ---- ---- Performers: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Judi Dench, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Stephen Root, Jessica Hecht, Lea Thompson, Ken Howard, Josh Hamilton. ---- ---- produced by Brian Grazer, Robert Lorenz ; produced and directed by Clint Eastwood. ---- MPAA Rating "R". ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----My Review: This story is very strong in content and action: in saying the story is strong, what I mean is it can influence a young mind in a bad way. J. Edgar was a crook and a liar. ---- He Blackmailed many persons and thier family's to achive his self centered goals. ---- Having lived through the later years- of J. Edgar Hovers leadership and designs for the FBI. I was glad that this movie and story were created. ---- When JFK was Killed, I was in 6th grade. ---- The movie is 2Hrs-17Min long. ---- The movie is a good review to a point. ---- It is also so damn slow I spent two days viewing it. ---- I can only spend so much time watching dark formating in a movie. ---- Enjoy if you can! It is not entertainment! ---- RichardPaul(Finished 12-26-12)

The Good (Armie Hammer), The Bad (writer, director, Leo) and The Ugly (awful lighting, atrocious make-up). The people connected with this movie should all be ashamed of themselves. There is no excuse for a film to be this bad. Easily the worst Hollywood movie I have seen in years.

Prior to watching this movie, I did not know too much about J. Edgar Hoover. Thus, although I cannot comment on the accuracy of the events depicted in this film, I do feel that this was a pretty good script and another solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio.