“Joe Bell” (Drama/Biography: 1 hour, 34 minutes)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Reid Miller, Connie Britton, Maxwell Jenkins and Gary Sinise

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Rated: R (Profanity, including offensive slurs, some disturbing material and teen partying)

Movie Review: “Joe Bell” delivers an important message about the effects of bullying and acceptance of others. Based on actual events, the movie is interesting but has a poor execution. Instead, it just becomes an emotionally haphazard screenplay, inserting flashbacks that do nothing to improve its main star Mark Wahlberg while amplifying the superb breakout performance of Reid Miller.

Joe Bell (Wahlberg) is a married man, a small town, working-class father and husband. He embarks on a walk from La Grande, Ore., to New York City. His solo trek is a one-man campaign against bullying after people at a high school torment his son, Jadin (Miller), daily for being gay. The constant torment causes Jadin to commit suicide.

Without indicating what happens, multiple tragedies exist in this movie. The most profound is a father’s feeling he let down his son. Joe Bell’s walk across the country is a way to recount what he could have done differently as a parent. Yet audiences have little time to indulge in Joe Bell’s travel experience and the self-reflection it brings in a steadfast manner.

As Joe Bell walks, he remembers moments with his son. The moments show a loving relationship with hardships, but this movie appears to be a revisionist history in many ways. When people die tragically, others typically recount what they did and try to justify the best of relationships. They make good moments peaceful memories.

“Joe Bell” does similarly. However, the movie gives Wahlberg few chances to act because this photoplay focuses on the story without developing a smooth transition to showcase its main character. Wahlberg’s best scene is with seasoned actor Gary Sinise, who plays a sheriff. The movie needs more moments such as their candid discussion about their children.

A shining star of this movie is Reid Miller. He gives this movie life, an emotional attachment that remains with you after seeing this movie. Miller’s performance makes Jadin Bell’s story appear more interesting than Wahlberg’s Joe Bell.

As touching and engrossing as this movie is, its execution is garbled by ill-timed flashbacks that give little opportunity to experience Joe Bell’s travels. His mission is as noble as this movie but “Joe Bell’s” chronological sequences of the past and present compete against each other. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men,” 2018), Jake Gyllenhaal, who is an executive producer, and writers Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry (“Brokeback Mountain,” 2005) create an emotional but disjointed script.

Grade: C+ (A thoughtful, intriguing message movie poorly implemented.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has reviewed movies for more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.