The Monuments Men (George Clooney, 2014)

The previous collaboration of co-screenwriter and co-producer Grant Heslov with Clooney, 2009's The Men Who Stare at Goats, was something of a mess: a war comedy setting its stall out as being inspired by real events and characters, aiming for satire and largely missing the mark. The historical foundation here, with a bunch of ageing art specialists put together by the Allies to save treasures looted by the Nazis as the war draws to a close,  is certainly closer to fact, and the humour less forced, but it's far from the required verisimilitude all the same, either in detail or gravity. This also means it doesn't provide a convincing answer to the question it puts forward at the end, i.e. who will remember or care thirty years later what they did. And unfortunately once again, with Americans at the helm, the role of the other Allies ends up being slighted, a few token figures thrown in briefly to make up the numbers. It seems to want to allude to the irreverent fun of Inglourious Basterds while having an earnest message, and just ends up falling between the two stools.

5/10