I had deep problems with it as well.

Malkovich gives quite the well-realized performance, however, as you note.

It’s a difficult film to “grade,” as it were, wanting to be an ode to melodramas of the time it is set, but constrained by the tastelessly bland effort to follow its “based on a true story” ambitions to the bitter end.

Straczynski must have had a fever that day … but do note that it’s a Presbyterian pastor …

That is a great quote, and it’s an even better fit for “Changeling” than for “W.” And you make great points about Northcutt and: “The end result is that the most fascinating aspects of the story, like Collins’s time in a mental institution and her son’s murderer, are stereotyped and glossed over.” Indeed.

I couldn’t find the satisfaction that you did. But we had similar observations.

My theory is that the hook for the story was the murders themselves. That’s the best explanation for all the screen time for Northcutt, who really has nothing at all to do with Collins’ experience. From that hook, I think they tried to back up and find a character we could follow (enter Collins). But this is one of those movies that ends up being about so many things that it’s really about nothing at all.

Too bad.