Sundance: Chapter 27 Movie Review

"I believe in Holden Caulfield and what he was saying... What he was saying to a lost generation."

Chapter 27 reenacts the final moments before Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon. The title is a play on J.D. Salinger's classic novel The Catcher in the Rye, which ends on chapter 26. Chapman related and modeled his life after the book's main character Holden Caulfield.

Jared Leto transformed for the role, gaining over 70 pounds. He's almost entirely unrecognizable. A black haired Lindsay Lohan plays a hardcore Lennon fan, which she actually pulls off. Judah Friedlander delivers a matured dramatic performance as a paparazzi photographer.

It's interesting to wonder what would have happened if Jude had taken Chapman up on his offer to leave the city. Would John Lennon still be alive? Why did Chapman kill Lennon?? What was the connection to Catcher in the Rye? We never really find out. The film creates more questions than it provides answers, Instead the film accurately portrays the events leading up to the murder, most of which are historically interesting but not in the least visually entertaining. The film crawls by at a snail's pace, only picking up speed when Lennon arrives.

/Film Rating: 4 out of 10