You can pre-order A Journal for Jordan on Amazon.Īs an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Jordan with a screenplay by Virgil Williams, A Journal for Jordan is based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King (Jordan), a soldier deployed to Iraq who begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son.īack at home, senior New York Times editor Dana Canedy (Chanté Adams) revisits the story of her unlikely, life-altering relationship with King and his enduring devotion to her and their child.Ī sweeping account of a once-in-a-lifetime love, the film is a powerful reminder of the importance of family. 22 and on Blu-Ray/DVD on March 8.ĭirected by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. But I don't think Sony is sweating the box office numbers right now, as their latest Spider-Man has swung to a billion dollars worldwide in ten days with opportune Oscar buzz beginning to rightly materialize.One of the winter’s charming films, A Journal for Jordan, is making its way to home video. Directed by Denzel Washington, the film tells the real story of former New York Times senior editor Dana Canedy (played by Chant. A Valentine's Day opening would have freed this from awards season expectations and multiplex competition this is in no shape to stand up to. A Journal for Jordan is a story of love lost and found. Washington's only direction to Jordan appears to have been "Play this like a younger me would have" and the actor does succeed at providing a young Denzel impression that is perfectly on point when you close your eyes.īut the journalist and drill sergeant are paper-thin characters and thus it is incredibly difficult to be moved by their playful phone calls, romantic gestures, and relationship setbacks here. Gives us a flat leading man, doing nothing to inject the standard issue relationship squabbles with something distinct or substantial. And Jordan, the person in front of the camera you've come to trust over the past decade for knockout performances in films like Fruitvale Station and Creed, What value laid in Canedy's memoir is obscure in the screenplay by Virgil Williams, whose previous adaptation Mudbound earned him an Academy Award nomination.
How Washington, one of the most commanding actors of our time and a director of increasing renown, could make something you mistake for a Hallmark movie is a puzzle. It plays out largely like a Hallmark romance but with less of the seasonal fun you might expect given the timing. The movie is meant to be a tearjerker, but it never earns those tears, instead simply boring you numb with its inexplicably methodical and unremarkable love story. It runs well over two hours with almost nothing to justify that length.
The titular journal barely features in the film and it's not clear why. Jordan) writes a journal to tell his son how to live a good life despite growing up without a father. Jordan) and embarks upon a primarily long-distance relationship with him.
A father figure to the soldiers under his command, Charles moved naturally into writing to his son. It is also a father's advice and prayers for the son he will never know. It tells the story of how Canedy (played here by Chanté Adams), a reporter for the New York Times, falls for divorced Army sergeant Charles Monroe King (Michael B. A Journal for Jordan is a mother's letter to her son fierce in its honesty about the father he lost before he could even speak.
Washington again has a Pulitzer Prize winner on his side, but in this case, author Dana Canedy won for the series "How Raced Is Lived in America" and not the 2008 memoir that forms the basis for this slow, corny, hollow film. Washington returns to directing on A Journal for Jordan, an oddly inert romantic drama you'd never guess was from someone who last gave us Fences. In addition to starring in Joel Coen's striking but dull monochromatic The Tragedy of Macbeth, A hauntingly beautiful account of a family fractured by war. Denzel Washington manages to disappoint on both sides of the camera this holiday season. A Journal for Jordan (Movie Tie-In) Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Mirron Willis Critic Reviews.