The first line uttered in Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” is from Earl Stone (Eastwood), who greets one of the workers on his daylily farm: “Hey Jose, what’s with the taco wagon? It’s like you were born to be deported.” Then Jose and Earl laugh, which is how all of Earl’s many wildly racist remarks are treated in “The Mule.” It’s as if they’re completely harmless, because Earl’s just a curmudgeonly old timer who just doesn’t know better. Or does he? Regardless, hundreds of people are responsible for “The Mule,” who very much should have known better than to release this bizarre, offensive debacle.
“The Mule” is adapted by screenwriter Nick Schenk from a New York Times Magazine article, “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-year Old Drug Mule” by Sam Dolnick. The film is a fairly straightforward adaptation of the true story, but the racist cultural stereotypes and truly appalling treatment of women is all thanks to Schenk and Eastwood.
Earl’s life of crime starts with the World Wide Web, which decimates his daylily empire. At the behest of his granddaughter’s pal, he shows up to a tire shop hoping to get paid to drive. The group of Mexican men he encounters loads his truck with duffel bags and a burner phone and send him on his way. It’s easy enough work for the envelopes of cash he receives, and the elderly white Earl goes undetected by police.
Eastwood is known for his ruthless efficiency as a filmmaker, but “The Mule” feels dashed off at best, barely even a movie. It’s a strange rough draft, poorly executed and disastrously performed, despite the starry cast.
Perhaps Eastwood is trying to make some kind of argument about politically correct culture, shoehorning in a bunch of offensive language into the story about a man whom technocapitalism has left in the dust. As much as he grouses about Mexicans, Earl grumbles about cellphones, too. There’s an interesting anti-capitalist strain here, but then you remember who made it and think twice. But by the end of the boring, racist melodrama that is “The Mule,” thinking twice doesn’t even seem worth the effort.
MOVIE REVIEW
“The Mule”
Grade: D
Starring Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper and Dianne Wiest. Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Rated R for language throughout and brief sexuality/nudity. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 56 minutes.
Bottom line: Bizarre and offensive melodrama
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