Review: In 'A Journal for Jordan,' an earnest look at a military family's sacrifice gets swallowed up by bland storytelling

Bouncing from romance to parental drama, “A Journal for Jordan” is an earnestly told but sometimes wooden story about the sacrifices that come with a life in the military.

The movie is based on a memoir by former New York Times reporter Dana Canedy, played here by Chanté Adams. Canedy is trying to write down, for her son Jordan, her memories of his father, Army 1st Sgt. Charles Monroe King (Michael B. Jordan).

Thus starts the flashbacks through Dana and Charles’ romance in the 1990s into the 2000s, starting with her meeting him in the living room of her father (Robert Wisdom), an Army veteran who served in the same unit to which Charles is currently assigned. A romance ensues, hampered by distance — she’s in New York, he’s stationed in North Carolina — and by her memories of her father’s infidelity, which she blames in part on his Army influence. Charles assures Dana that he’s not like that, and will be true to her through everything.

Charles is too good to be true, and one of the weaknesses of Virgil Williams’ screenplay is that it depicts Charles as a plaster saint rather than a complex human being. Another weakness is letting Dana regularly whine about the demands of Charles’ military career, as if she didn’t remember that from her father’s Army experience.

When Dana becomes pregnant, and Charles is deployed in Iraq, Dana gives Charles a journal — so he can write to his unborn son, and start planning all the things he will say to the boy later.

Michael B. Jordan is as all-American as an actor can be, and he nearly manages to flesh out the saintly Charles into a fully realized human being. Jordan’s chemistry with Adams is palpable, and it’s too bad they don’t have more time together onscreen to let the sparks fly.

Not that sparks are abundant in director Denzel Washington’s handling of this story. Washington intercuts between different points on Dana and Charles’ timeline, usually to weak effect. It’s a bit of a shock, considering Washington’s track record of directing strong, dynamic stories (“Antwone Fisher,” “The Great Debaters” and, most importantly, “Fences”), that he would make a movie this bland and lifeless.

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‘A Journal for Jordan’

★★

Opens Saturday, December 25, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for some sexual content, partial nudity, drug use and language. Running time: 131 minutes.