Shattered Glass
3/4
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria, Steve Zahn
Rated PG-13 for Language, Sexual References, and Brief Drug Use
We take our news as truth. The stories we read in USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and so on as fact, although the writer spins it the way he or she wants it. Occasionally, a mistake is made, as in the name is misspelled or a fact is wrong (such as when Ryan Lanza was originally reported to be the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, when it was in fact his brother Adam...okay, so that's not minor, but you get my point). The paper then publishes a retraction and issues an apology. Not much harm done usually.
With the case of Stephen Glass, it's a little different. Glass was a hotshot writer at The New Republic, which is "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One." He didn't just fudge facts or use sources that were unreliable. He completely made up parts of or all of 27 out of the 41 stories he wrote for the magazine.
As presented through the eyes of writer/director Billy Ray (based on the article by Buzz Bissinger), it's not hard to understand how Stephen Glass (Christensen) got away with it. He's probably the least likely to do something like this. He's shy, self-deprecating but also a charmer. The people around the office regard him as a kid brother or a puppy. His lies begin to catch up with him when the editor, Michael Kelly (Azaria), is fired and replaced by Chuck Lane (Sarsgaard). This creates a lot of tension around the office because Michael was warm and defensive of his writers while Chuck is cold and unfeeling.
Stephen has just written a piece called "Hack Heaven," where a teenage kid gets a lucrative deal after hacking a big tech company's website. A writer at a fledgling website, Adam Penenberg (Zahn), is doing a follow-up piece to this story, but he can't find any of the sources that Stephen used. Naturally this arises suspicions, and that's just the start of it. Initially, Chuck is on Stephen's side, but the deeper he digs, the less he believes it.
For a $6 million budget, the film boasts a strong cast, giving weight to my belief that when you've got a good script, you don't need to throw a lot of money at it to get the big stars. The best of the lot is, surprisingly, Hayden Christensen. Christensen received a lot of flak for his performance as Anakin Skywalker, and quite frankly, it's not hard to see why. He was stiff as a wooden board in "Episode II" but was better in "Episode III." As Stephen Glass, he shines. He makes Stephen into someone you want to hug and protect, and that's exactly why his performance works. The other main actor, Peter Sarsgaard, is uneven. When he's cold and aloof, he matches Christensen. However, when he lets all the emotion come out, he's Peter Sarsgaard (a good performance like always, but we no longer see Chuck Lane). The other actors are good, but special mention has to go to Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn. Both are known for playing comic roles, and they excel in dramatic performances.
The film is terrific until the final 10 or 15 minutes. It doesn't implode by any means, but it descends into hard-to-swallow melodrama that it doesn't earn. Additionally, Chuck's realization that Stephen didn't just make up the "Hack Heaven" story but made up most of his work is poorly motivated.
Still, there is an amazing amount of verisimilitude in the way that Billy Ray tells it. I believed that this is how a real newsroom looked and how people acted there. Ray avoids sexing up or Hollywoodize the movie. Too much, actually. This is an emotionally cool movie, which is distancing (the same was true of his next, and thus far last, film as a director, "Breach").
All in all, this is a fascinating movie with terrific performances.
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria, Steve Zahn
Rated PG-13 for Language, Sexual References, and Brief Drug Use
We take our news as truth. The stories we read in USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and so on as fact, although the writer spins it the way he or she wants it. Occasionally, a mistake is made, as in the name is misspelled or a fact is wrong (such as when Ryan Lanza was originally reported to be the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, when it was in fact his brother Adam...okay, so that's not minor, but you get my point). The paper then publishes a retraction and issues an apology. Not much harm done usually.
With the case of Stephen Glass, it's a little different. Glass was a hotshot writer at The New Republic, which is "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One." He didn't just fudge facts or use sources that were unreliable. He completely made up parts of or all of 27 out of the 41 stories he wrote for the magazine.
As presented through the eyes of writer/director Billy Ray (based on the article by Buzz Bissinger), it's not hard to understand how Stephen Glass (Christensen) got away with it. He's probably the least likely to do something like this. He's shy, self-deprecating but also a charmer. The people around the office regard him as a kid brother or a puppy. His lies begin to catch up with him when the editor, Michael Kelly (Azaria), is fired and replaced by Chuck Lane (Sarsgaard). This creates a lot of tension around the office because Michael was warm and defensive of his writers while Chuck is cold and unfeeling.
Stephen has just written a piece called "Hack Heaven," where a teenage kid gets a lucrative deal after hacking a big tech company's website. A writer at a fledgling website, Adam Penenberg (Zahn), is doing a follow-up piece to this story, but he can't find any of the sources that Stephen used. Naturally this arises suspicions, and that's just the start of it. Initially, Chuck is on Stephen's side, but the deeper he digs, the less he believes it.
For a $6 million budget, the film boasts a strong cast, giving weight to my belief that when you've got a good script, you don't need to throw a lot of money at it to get the big stars. The best of the lot is, surprisingly, Hayden Christensen. Christensen received a lot of flak for his performance as Anakin Skywalker, and quite frankly, it's not hard to see why. He was stiff as a wooden board in "Episode II" but was better in "Episode III." As Stephen Glass, he shines. He makes Stephen into someone you want to hug and protect, and that's exactly why his performance works. The other main actor, Peter Sarsgaard, is uneven. When he's cold and aloof, he matches Christensen. However, when he lets all the emotion come out, he's Peter Sarsgaard (a good performance like always, but we no longer see Chuck Lane). The other actors are good, but special mention has to go to Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn. Both are known for playing comic roles, and they excel in dramatic performances.
The film is terrific until the final 10 or 15 minutes. It doesn't implode by any means, but it descends into hard-to-swallow melodrama that it doesn't earn. Additionally, Chuck's realization that Stephen didn't just make up the "Hack Heaven" story but made up most of his work is poorly motivated.
Still, there is an amazing amount of verisimilitude in the way that Billy Ray tells it. I believed that this is how a real newsroom looked and how people acted there. Ray avoids sexing up or Hollywoodize the movie. Too much, actually. This is an emotionally cool movie, which is distancing (the same was true of his next, and thus far last, film as a director, "Breach").
All in all, this is a fascinating movie with terrific performances.
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