‘Rebel in the Rye’ gives a dull reading of J.D. Salinger’s life

Fans of the author J.D. Salinger and his singular novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” will likely know most of the details divulged in writer-director Danny Strong’s biographical drama “Rebel in the Rye” — and anyone, fan or not, will likely find Strong’s recounting quite dull.

After an opening that shows Salinger (Nicholas Hoult) in a mental institution, shell-shocked from what he saw as a soldier in World War II, Strong introduces the author as an ambitious, slightly arrogant young college student in 1939. Defying his businessman father (Victor Garber) and pleasing his mother (Hope Davis), he declares he intends to become a writer and enrolls at Columbia University.

It’s there he encounters his mentor, Whit Burnett (Kevin Spacey), who reads Faulkner aloud and urges his students to think about story first. He singles out the sarcastic Salinger for derision, telling the kid his voice, though strong, gets in the way of his storytelling. Burnett, who also edits the edgy magazine Story, also gives Salinger his first rejection notice. It isn’t the last, though Salinger hones his short-story abilities until Burnett believes his student has the commitment to be “a true writer.”

One of Salinger’s short stories — one that even gets the attention of the snooty editors at The New Yorker — revolves around an angry young man, who like Salinger decries the phoniness of everyone around him. Burnett advises Salinger to expand the story and give the character, Holden Caulfield, a novel. “I’m a dash man, not a miler,” Salinger replies, showing doubt that a short-story writer like him can create a novel.

Then comes World War II, and Salinger says goodbye to his parents and his fickle girlfriend — Oona O’Neill (Zoey Deutch), the estranged daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill — to enlist in the Army. As he lands on the beach at Normandy, sees combat firsthand and hands out rations in a just-liberated concentration camp, Salinger has one thing to keep his mind occupied: the novel about Holden Caulfield.

Strong, adapting a biography of the author by Kenneth Slawenski, dutifully hits the high spots of Salinger’s young life. He tries to imbue every checkpoint in Salinger’s story with importance, but his equal emphasis on each event — his romantic misadventures, his disputes with Burnett, his dabbling in Zen Buddhism and yoga — means that nothing stands out. It’s as if Strong followed Burnett’s advice to his students, to read in a monotone and let the story carry the day, in screenplay form.

In the process, Strong squanders a talented cast — including Sarah Paulson as Salinger’s literary agent — and solid performances by Hoult and Spacey. In spite of the title, and the spirit of Holden Caulfield, there’s little that’s rebellious in “Rebel in the Rye.”