Jon Hamm in ‘Beirut’ Is Finally A Movie Star

You would think that Jon Hamm ought to be an A-list movie star. Ruggedly handsome with an overlay of dissipation, a sort of been-there, done-that world weariness, yet able to be charming and funny when needed, but he has only been cast by friends in TV shows (Tina Fey in her “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) or by studios in forgettable films such as “Million Dollar Arm.” Even in his most successful movie, “Baby Driver,” Hamm played a supporting character.

I wish I could assure you that Hamm’s current outing, “Beirut,” would finally make him a Hollywood leading man for good. But I would not count on it, even though Director Brad Anderson, and Hamm himself, work hard to reach that goal. Hamm, three years removed from the wonderful, existential last episode of “Mad Men,” may be past his sell-by date. Then too, this is a film out of sync with the current Hollywood zeitgeist.

 “Beirut” seems from another time. The screenplay by Tony Gilroy was written 27 years ago, before he co-wrote “Armageddon” followed by all four of the Matt Damon “Bourne” films. It is stubbornly about adults, for adults; there is no flash, but it does use Hamm and his co-star, “Gone Girl’s” Rosamund Pike (another under-utilized, should-be star) to deliver expected scenes that will still surprise you.

 Hamm plays Mason Skiles, eking out a life as a labor negotiator in the Midwest. He is often drunk but not inefficient, as he tries to forget his heydays as a slick diplomat in Beirut, where he lost his wife and home to terrorism. Suddenly he is needed by the White House to discover who is betraying who in the Middle East. Eventually Skiles agrees to travel to Beirut and negotiate the release of a hostage held by the same terrorist group responsible for his wife’s death. What follows is a convoluted but predictable story — red herrings, double-crosses and plot holes abound — saved by Gilroy’s sharp dialogue and sense of character, Anderson’s smooth direction and total command of action, and the careful, thoughtful character Hamm builds onscreen before our eyes. There is no Don Draper clinging to Hamm here; this is a new, revelatory role he creates from the inside.

Production values are less than ideal: the film was shot in Morocco, which is very different from Beirut, sets seem cheap, pyrotechnics and effects appear to have been made on a shoestring. Worse, there are no Lebanese or Middle Eastern performers who are not terrorists and the soundtrack sounds generic, like that of hundreds of movies about the region. Still there is the best Jon Hamm you have ever seen on the big screen. In this film he is a Star!

  “Beirut” is playing at The Moviehouse in Millerton.