Rebel in the Rye movie review (2017)
Burnett tells Salinger to turn Caulfield’s story into a novel, and he does. Nihilananda tells Salinger to remove the distraction of the city from his life, and he does. Olding approves of Salinger’s dream to write for himself rather than for his rabid fans, and the rest is history. Each of these motives are spelled out in all-too-tidy a fashion, while the more intriguing material is overlooked. We meet the high school student whose betrayal of the author is routinely blamed for his subsequent seclusion, but we never get to see what a Salinger-led youth group looks like. Also missing is a satisfactory reason for why he cruelly shut Burnett out of his life for so many years, other than pure pigheadedness. This is a glaring omission since Spacey and Hoult’s scenes together form the heart of the picture, especially when contrasted with any scene pairing Salinger with one of his lovers.
After receiving a lackluster reception at Sundance, Strong recut the film for its theatrical release, and though I didn’t view the previous cut, this one appears to be comprised of half-realized highlights from a television miniseries. Consider the grand entrance of Oona O’Neill, splendidly played by dead ringer Zoey Deutch. She’s set up as the unattainable object of Salinger’s lust, but as soon as they share a single scene together, she’s cast out of the picture before we get the chance to absorb the significance of their relationship. When Salinger arrives back home after the war, his German wife (Anna Bullard) is as much a surprise to his family as she is to the audience (whereas Deutch got one big scene, Bullard only gets one line).
As Salinger’s second wife, Lucy Boynton has a nice introductory scene where she delights Salinger with a frank put-down of his work, but it isn’t long before the infatuation fades and she turns into just another face for him to ignore. At least she gets one good line in response to her husband’s ill treatment of Burnett: “With all that meditation, you’d think you would’ve learned to forgive by now.” Alas, forgiveness isn’t always easy, especially if you’re Joyce Maynard, one of the many young female admirers Salinger reportedly seduced for sexual favors before promptly abandoning them. Perhaps “Rebel in the Rye” glosses over Salinger’s treatment of women precisely because of these disturbing claims. After all, they certainly would render the film’s stated conviction—that Salinger produced work without expecting anything in return—resoundingly phony.
