Paul Walter Hauser stars in a scene from the movie "Richard Jewell." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Warner Bros.)

By Catholic News Service

Director Clint Eastwood’s sympathetic profile of the titular security guard (Paul Walter Hauser) who quickly went from hero to villain in the public mind when he was accused of planting the three pipe bombs that he himself first discovered, and helped to save people from, during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Dogged by an FBI agent (Jon Hamm) convinced of his guilt and a relentless mob of journalists led by a newspaper reporter (Olivia Wilde) who’s out for a sensational story at any cost, he turns for help to his former boss, a maverick attorney (charismatic Sam Rockwell). The canny, hard-bitten lawyer and his naive client make for an interesting odd couple and Kathy Bates is in fine form as Jewell’s doting mother. But a seamy subplot and other factors make Eastwood’s fairly gripping film, which draws on both a book and an article, best for grown-ups.

An implied nonmarital encounter, brief violence, mature references including to homosexuality, about a dozen uses of profanity, frequent rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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