Fat Man and Little Boy

Based on true events, Fat Man and Little Boy follows several characters, including Dwight Schultz’s J. Robert Oppenheimer and Paul Newman’s Leslie Groves, as they as they strive to develop the first nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Filmmaker Roland Joffé, armed with his and Bruce Robinson’s screenplay, delivers a watchable yet terminally erratic endeavor that benefits from its inherently compelling subject matter and stirring performances, as, in terms of the latter, Schultz and Newman’s strong work, along with the top-notch efforts of periphery players like John Cusack and John C. McGinley, goes a long way towards elevating the proceedings and smoothing over the narrative’s all-too-frequent lulls. And while the picture has admittedly been peppered with a handful of engrossing sequences, including a tense interlude detailing a bomb experiment gone wrong and a central character’s fatal mishap with radiation, Fat Man and Little Boy progresses into a midsection and second half that’s perhaps not quite as engrossing or engaging as one might’ve hoped (and expected) – which, despite the inclusion of an admittedly compelling climactic stretch, ultimately does cement the picture’s place as a decent-enough historical drama that probably should’ve topped out at around 90 minutes.

**1/2 out of ****