An inspirational account of a little-known historical saga directed by George Clooney and co-written by Clooney and frequent collaborator Grant Heslov (2011's "The Ides of March") sounds like an auspicious beginning for any prestige studio project. The outcome does not exactly live up to these presumed standards. Sluggish, slight and underdeveloped, "The Monuments Men" never manages to shift out of first gear until it's nearly over, and by then it's too late. The story is a worthy one, fascinating on its own yet drained of gravitas by the time Clooney gets done with it. If he is aiming to make a comedy, the characters mug on occasion but the film is never once particularly funny. If he wanted to helm a more serious treatment of his subject, why did he adopt a confectioned tone that rarely tries to dig beneath the script's flimsy, emotionally removed surface?
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