The lights dimmed and the words “A True Story” appeared on the screen. The music swelled and the camera panned down to show Los Angeles in 1928, complete with desaturated film and a trolley car tingling along in front of a parked Ford Model T.
From the first scene of Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, the intentions for Oscar nominations seem clear.
This ambition is made blatant by the many close-ups of Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins. She is tear-streaked, enraged, vulnerable, and shouts “my son” more times than anyone can count; it has all the makings of an acting tour de force for Jolie, but that would be an erroneous conclusion.
The film and Jolie’s performance are missing a certain honesty. If the film had not started with the words “A True Story” it would almost be laughable with the over the top acting and awkward narrative that gets bogged down in historical accuracy.  
In March 1928, Collins, a single mother living in Los Angeles returns home from work to find that her son Walter, played by Gattlin Griffith, is missing. Collins frantically calls the police and receives a casual and patronizing response. This foreshadows her future treatment by the department.
Five months later and after much press coverage Collins is reunited with a found boy, the cruel twist is that it is not her son. Collins points this out to Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) and is told to just “try him out.” She tries to prove there was a mistake by showing that the boy is inches shorter, has conflicting dental records and is circumcised, when Walter wasn’t. To escape embarrassment the corrupt police department first treats Collins as a hysterical, traumatized mother and then as a lunatic threatening public order and is sent to a mental institution. Collins is eventually saved by the crusading Reverend Gustav Briegleb, played by John Malkovich.
As the misery of Collins’ ordeal intensifies, Eastwood lays on the drama, but with every new subplot it seems that another movie begins. Lester Ybarra, a detective and the only decent man in the department, begins to unravel the mystery of Walter’s dissapearance.
With a good editing job this movie could have been an Oscar contender. Don’t be surprised if it still picks up a couple of undeserving nominations for Jolie and Eastwood. Changeling is in theatres now.