Now here's a counterintuitive marketing strategy: Put heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio on your poster, shot in unflattering white light, looking old, jowly and snarling. Presumably the promoters of "J. Edgar," director Clint Eastwood's biopic of long-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, know what they're doing, but this DiCaprio looks less like the guy legions of office ladies want to date and more like their short-tempered, stubborn manager.

Poor Leo. He's spent the better part of a decade now indulging his De Niro complex — from "The Aviator" through "The Departed," "Blood Diamond" and "Shutter Island" — and he's barely smiled on-screen the entire time. His post-"Titanic" quest to be taken seriously as an actor seems to involve looking serious all the time: Just look at those worry lines on his brow. "J. Edgar" is more of the same: old-man makeup, a paunch and a thoroughly dislikable character.

"J. Edgar" follows Hoover's 48-year career at the helm of the FBI (and the body that preceded it), flying from one incident to the next, often with little context provided for younger viewers or those less schooled in U.S. history.