"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 them, Jadin tries getting his manly man dad to sing Lady Gaga's equality anthem "Born This Way," and Dad actually knows the words. Together, father and son walk along highways to New York in order to raise awareness about bullying and inclusion to high schools and people in the heartland who need to hear it. Ever since Jadin came out, joined the cheerleading squad, and became the target of high school bullying, he knows first-hand the damage such harassment can have on a young person. Even though the outcome of this true story could easily be Googled, that’s really all that can be said without spoiling a narrative device, which cuts short the father and son’s cross-country journey.

As the film was originally titled “Good Joe Bell,” it seems like a strange choice to tell this story from the point of view of the father and not the son. That’s a problem at first, until Joe himself has a guilt-ridden epiphany that this walk was never about him. By then, it’s too little, too late, but Gary Sinise at least shows up and makes an impression as an empathetic small-town sheriff. It’s one thing for a true story to respect the real people involved and tell their story as close to the truth as possible. Trusting the inherent power of the story and streamlining everything may have worked, but the way the story has been executed in film form feels misguided in a way. Why deceive the audience with a framing device almost halfway through that only seems to shock and manipulate us emotionally? The shock is even delivered by an embarrassed and apologetic drag queen who acts as a surrogate for the audience. 

No matter one’s personal feelings on the actor, Mark Wahlberg does give a gruff and surprisingly sympathetic performance without sanding down the rough edges of the often bad-tempered Joe Bell. He isn't trying to be likable, but we root for him anyway to do some good. Connie Britton also makes her scenes count as Joe’s wife Lola, who’s supportive without being a doormat, even if her role is mostly reduced to The Wife. The real revelation, though, is Reid Miller, who’s radiant and emotionally true as Jadin. His scenes with a closeted football player, Chance (Igby Rigney), are sweet and exciting and shot with the most intimacy, only to end too soon. Everything “Joe Bell” stands for is important and unassailable, unfortunately continuing a discussion that we still have to have in 2021. The film has its heart in the right place, but the noblest of intentions only go so far. It wants to pull the rug out twice, and that approach seems like a false way to tell this already devastating story.

Grade: C +

Roadside Attractions is releasing “Joe Bell” (93 min.) in theaters on July 23, 2021.