At the beginning of Stone, parole officer Jack Malbry’s (De Niro) wife Madylyn (Conroy) announces she is leaving him. Upon hearing the news, Jack proceeds to dangle their only daughter out the window. The movie only goes downhill from there.
Stone follows Jack and his proceedings with the brash criminal Gerald “Stone” Creeson (Norton), who is hoping to be released on parole. Stone recruits his wife Lucetta (Jovovich) to seduce Jack in order to secure his freedom, setting off a chain of events that drives the movie.
Jack and Stone’s first meeting is intriguing, giving the film’s promise. Both De Niro and Norton are at the top of their acting games, effortlessly playing off one another. However, as Stone progresses, the plot and characters become disorienting. One sequence features a tryst between Jack and Lucetta and a stabbing witnessed by Stone in the same moment. While the seduction scene seems relevant, the stabbing seems unnecessarily violent and out of place. A plot twist involving the search for religious meaning among the characters also seems lost.
Despite the confusing plot, most of the movie’s elements are predictable. The seduction scenes between Lucetta and Jack are played-out, and Lucetta serves no other function than that of femme fatale.
Stone manages to be both predictable and nonsensical at the same time. As Stone and the other characters ponder the existence of God, audiences will be asking themselves what is going on in this in this incoherent mess of a drama. Unfortunately, neither question will be answered by the end of this film.
Stone
2/5 Stars
Directed by: John Curran
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Frances Conroy
Rated R, 105 min.
