AVClub: Early in the docudrama Truth, writer-director James Vanderbilt does a newsroom spin on the classic caper picture’s “assembling the team” scene. He’s already introduced Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett), a veteran broadcast news producer dedicated to chasing tough stories. One by one, the movie adds Mapes’ trusty trio of sidekicks: resourceful researcher and political radical Mike Smith (Topher Grace), retired colonel and military liaison Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid), and associate producer Lucy Scott (Elisabeth Moss), whose main job is to ask questions like “What do you mean?” and “Why is that?” so that the other three can deliver exposition and opinion. That’s the nature of Truth: a promising build-up, dead-ending into prosaic pontification.
THR
Topher Grace had no qualms about thinking outside the box to land his pivotal role in the Robert Redford-Cate Blanchett drama Truth.
The James Vanderbilt-directed film, opening Friday in select theaters, stars Redford as Dan Rather and Blanchett as his 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes amid the flap following the show's 2004 news story about then-president George W. Bush's time in the National Guard. Grace co-stars as the CBS news-magazine's researcher Mike Smith, who is particularly passionate that their story about Bush get told.
The movie was going to make that much money regardless of what it was. 1 You had two really good films leading to it, the second being the best Spider-Man film to date still. 2 You had Venom appear which is something people really wanted, but Sony forced it too soon.
The film would have been better if they allowed Rami to build towards it instead of forcing it.
The Wrap
There’s a great movie coming out about the relevance of hard journalism in the Internet age: It’s called “Spotlight,” and you should definitely check it out when it opens in November.
Less successful at tackling a similar subject is “Truth,” a film that’s about the importance of asking questions and speaking truth to power — and we know this because every other scene has a character launching into a monologue about the importance of asking questions and speaking truth to power.
EW
In September 2004, as George W. Bush was running for reelection, Dan Rather anchored a piece on 60 Minutes about the alleged shortcuts and deceits the president used to dodge serving in Vietnam. It was an explosive report…and a flawed one, leading to the dismissal of both Rather and the segment’s producer, Mary Mapes. Writer-director James Vanderbilt’s newsroom drama attempts to right the scandal and set the record straight.
