"Joe Bell" affecting and well-intentioned but reliant on a needless gimmick
Joe Bell (2021) “Joe Bell” leaves one conflicted. On one hand, it’s well-intentioned in delivering an anti-bullying message that could hopefully help LGBTQ teens and parents relate and educate everyone else. On the other hand, the film is dramatically calculated in ways that shouldn’t be and just undercut the authentic moments that do exist. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green (2018’s “Monsters and Men”) and screenwriters Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry (2005's "Brokeback Mountain") do have the daunting responsibility to tell someone’s true story that’s filled with hope and tragedy without just paying lip service. But despite the affecting work the actors put in, “Joe Bell” frustratingly relies on a gimmick that it never needed in the first place. Set in 2013, Oregon, the film begins with Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg), a conservative, working-class family man making his way across America on the open road with his openly gay 15-year-old son, Jadin (Reid Miller). When we first see...