Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn is Edward Norton's baby. He stars in the flick, he wrote the film adaptation, and it's the first time he's directed since 2000's Keeping The Faith. 

You don't remember Keeping the Faith, which stared Norton, Ben Stiller, and Jenna Elfman? Well, you'll remember Motherless Brooklyn.

In 1959 low-rent private investigator Lionel Essrog works his way through a murder mystery that has devestating personal and professional ramifications. Essrog happens to have Tourette's syndrome, which both aids and hampers his PI work.  He's considered disordered and immature by his peers, who call him "freakshow." 

"You're no freakshow," his boss Frank Minna whispers to him during a crucial moment early in the film. The audience doesn't believe it, though, and neither does Essrog. He's been trying unsuccessfully to acclimate his entire life. The whisper means something to him, and it helps get Essrog onto the plot path. Butt he doesn't believe Minna.

By the end he, and the audience, do. 

Motherless Brooklyn feels like a period piece detective story. The dialogue is quick and snappy, surprises arise throughout, villains are a bit of a caricature, and it has a really cool musical score that helps form the movie's identity. The plot shines light on a variety of social ills, including capitalistic greed and racism (and how the two are often combined). 

But, the best part is watching Norton's Essrog overcome insecurity, his disorder, and a lifetime of challenges to find his confidence. 

Although the movie isn't perfect -- there are some minor plot holes, and some of the outcomes are obvious -- it's worth seeing in a theater. The supporting cast alone (Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis, Ethan Suplee, Bobby Cannavalle, Alec Baldwin, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) are worth the trip downtown and the price of a ticket. 

The cherry on top, though, is watching two-plus hours of Edward Norton transforming his character from man-child to grown man. It's sorta his thing, and he does it as well here as he has in any of his previous works.