Like Mr. Hoover himself, “J. Edgar” keeps too many secrets from its audience.

I feel like a biopic should answer questions about their subject, but “J. Edgar” made me want to do my own research on Hoover.

Other than leaving me with more questions than answers, “J. Edgar” was a great film. The acting was absolutely phenomenal.

Leonardo DiCaprio was incredibly convincing as Hoover in his later years as head of the FBI. It’s amazing to see a former teen heartthrob play a 77-year-old bureaucrat, and do it well.

Of course, he didn’t play Hoover in his old age throughout the entire film, but it was the most impressive acting he did in the film.

But DiCaprio was totally overshadowed by Armie Hammer, who played Hoover’s second-in-command (and possibly lover) Clyde Tolson. Hammer has definitely given the best performance I’ve seen all year. If he doesn’t win Best Supporting Actor for this role, the Academy and I are going to have some angry words.

The script could have been a little better. The dialogue was perfect, but like I said, the overall story left me wanting more. The creation of the bureau and Hoover’s rise to power was fascinating, but I’m still confused about Hoover’s motives for some of his actions.

Clint Eastwood’s directing was good, but not phenomenal (but Eastwood never had his own style that I could really see.)

Sometimes, the best directors are the ones where you can’t really tell they were there at all.

You simply know they’re going to do a good job with their project, which is exactly what Eastwood did.

Most people don’t know much about Hoover, and if they do they probably just know he was accused of being a cross-dresser, not that he started the FBI and was director for practically forever (at least in political terms).

If you want to know about that, you won’t have any luck with this movie.

There is one scene with cross-dressing, and it is far creepier than it really needed to be.

What really stuck with me about “J. Edgar” was how little it tried to convince me that he was a great man that did great things like some biopics do.

It showed that, although he built the FBI practically from the ground up and fought hard for forensic sciences that help catch criminals, he was, as Tolson says in the film, “a scared, heartless, horrible little man.”

“J. Edgar,” and Mr. Hoover himself, is proof that terrible men can do great things.