Shattered Glass Review
The world of bookish, passive-aggressive reporters doesn't seem like the stuff of compelling drama, but Billy_Ray's Shattered Glass manages to make one egghead's pathetic desperation a rousing time at the movies. Comparisons to The_Paper_Chase or even All the President's Men aren't that far out of line: Glass presents a sad, late-'90s alternate universe to Woodward and Bernstein, where journalists -- ostensible purveyors of truth -- have to scramble to ferret out the lies in their own offices. Unlike Steven_Spielberg's jocular Catch_Me_If_You_Can, Shattered Glass doesn't offer a pat explanation for its anti-hero's pathological lying. He isn't abandoned by a parent, and it isn't implied by anyone other than Hayden_Christensen's Stephen Glass that he's attempting to live up to stratospheric expectations "back home." Instead, the character's rationale is inherent in Christensen's cagey, live-wire performance: He's a composite of every dog-ate-my-homework brown-noser that ever walked into a newsroom, classroom, or job interview, desperate for approbation and willing to stroke any ego to get it. A-list screenwriter Ray takes some liberties of his own in the name of cinema -- conflating a character here and there, and focusing almost solely on the piece that brought Glass down -- but the result is a tightly crafted, swiftly edited exposé that never curries obvious audience sympathy. Michael Hastings, Rovi
Browse More Movies:
