Joe Bell is painful, sincere. Its most optimistic and substantial strand is its belief in the possibility of, not forgiveness for the unaccepting, but acceptance in itself

Wahlberg, who's one of the producers, presumably saw the film as a departure. He's required to do more emoting here than in maybe all of his previous movies combined. He's up to the challenge.

Though it sometimes feels treacly and hackneyed, or even predictable,"Joe Bell" resists expectation, and where this true story ends up is far more poignant and devastating than any work of fiction could be.

The title implies that Joe’s story is the focus, yet the unnecessarily convoluted narrative bounces too much between past and present as well as the POVs of father (Mark Wahlberg, playing against his usual jacked, macho persona) and son (Reid Miller).