I’m Charlie Walker (2022)

I’m Charlie Walker opens with the text “Based on a True Story.”  Since I’ve never heard of Charlie Walker, this means nothing to me.  And since this movie never seems to have any relation to anything in real life due to the fact that the filmmaking and the performances feel like bad stage acting, it only makes things worse, ESPECIALLY since the movie ends with the information that nearly everything we just saw was fictitious.

Needless to say, the movie gets off on the wrong foot and sadly never finds its feet.  It’s a mess from the ground up.  The story is an interesting one, telling the tale of a Perfect Man who is drawn down by greed and corruption.  Mike Coulter, a wonderfully intelligent actor is given bad direction here as he plays the title character, a truck driver in the early 70s who is struggling to feed his family.  It’s 1971 and the big news is that two oil tankers have collided off the cost of San Francisco spilling gallon after gallon of crude oil.  The oil company responsible, Tower Oil, wants to save face.  The Hippies want the mess cleaned up so that they can preserve the coastline.  In the middle is Charlie, who wheels and deals his way into a lucrative contract but then is drawn into the corruption and racism of the corporate system.

That’s a terrific story.  If its true then its the first I’m hearing about it.  And with the write screenwriter, it could make for a great drama.  Unfortunately this is not a great drama.  It’s so by-the-numbers and the characters are painted in such broad strokes that you feel like your watching a bad TV movie.  The dialogue is presented like the director demanded cue cards, and the narration by Walker’s wife feels like something out of a political ad.

All of these distractions make I’m Charlie Walker a very aggravating experience.  The movie is pure amateur night, and if the facts are true, then I await much more talented filmmakers to tell this story better and with more skill.