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Every fall, as the year’s award hopefuls start to flock to theaters (and critics’ mailboxes), there are some clear contenders, some disappointments, and plenty of non-starters that eventually just quietly fade away—like director John Curran’s Stone.
Robert De Niro stars as Jack, a Detroit parole officer who’s eagerly anticipating his approaching retirement. But, first, he has just a few final cases to handle—like that of a convicted arsonist known as Stone (Edward Norton). Stone has served eight years of his 10-15-year sentence. In that time, he’s gotten his GED and lined up a job—and now he’s desperate to get home to his beautiful wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), and get on with his life.
It soon becomes clear that Stone will do anything to get out of prison. He tries opening up to Jack about his life and his crime. He expresses remorse for what he’s done. He even finds religion. He tries to be exactly what Jack wants him to be—but when that doesn’t seem to work, he sends Lucetta to persuade Jack to change his mind.
At first, Stone seems to promise a suspenseful thriller about a manipulative criminal who sends his gorgeous but slightly unstable wife to stalk his parole officer. Unfortunately, though, it turns out to be a bland and perplexing drama about a bunch of strangely unrealistic and generally unlikable characters. None of the main characters really ring true—and just when you think you’ve finally got a grasp on them, they’ll turn around and do something that’s totally out of character. They definitely keep the audience guessing—but not necessarily in a good way.
Still, Norton gives an arresting performance as Stone. He completely transforms himself into the character—a fast-talking, foul-mouthed criminal who keeps his parole officer second-guessing his sincerity. Each time he makes an appearance, you’ll be just as confused and conflicted as Jack is, wondering whether he’s really trying to change his life or he’s just trying to manipulate his way out of prison.
As the film continues, though, the focus is less on Stone and more on Lucetta. And Jovovich’s bizarre performance—a strange mix of crazed sex kitten and perky five-year-old—soon cancels out Norton’s better moments. She’s awkward and sometimes even irritating—and it makes her character hard to believe.
At times, writer Angus MacLachlan and director Curran seem to be trying to make some kind of a point—to get some kind of a message across. But the message—like the suspense—gets lost in boring drama and uneven characters. So it’s really no surprise that Stone was one of the fall’s award season non-starters.
