“Tomorrow its wrong. We only have to be right for a day.” – Alicia Clark
Integrity will cost you. The price might include feelings of guilt, an admonition from your boss, or if you’re Henry Hackett, it might be a punch in the nose. But that’s the lesson this devoted newspaper has known all along and yet still managed to forge a career anyway. Played by the always engaging Michael Keaton, Henry devotes too much time to his work despite offers from better papers, a growing dislike of his boss Alica (Glenn Close) and a beautiful and very pregnant wife (Marissa Tomei) at home who happens to be a damn fine journalist herself. But when his paper is about to run a story he knows is wrong, he decides he’s had enough and will do whatever necessary to correct the mistake, even if it costs him everything. Aided by the film’s voice of reason and conscience, Michael McDougal, a wildcard of a reporter played by the excellent Randy Quaid, Henry is determined to set the record straight.
The film builds with gradual intensity, offering us peaks inside the world of newspaper writers, all while balancing multiple storylines, which all come to a head as the film races towards its conclusion. Ably directed by Ron Howard, who while always a capable director, has only wowed me with Apollo 13 and Willow, the film is successful but not as powerful as films like Spotlight or All the President’s Men. While those films were based on true and engaging stories, The Paper could have easily taken its place alongside those classics had it not focused much of its energy on some unnecessary melodramatic side plots written by David and Stephen Koepp. . Scenes that bristle with acting energy tend to fizzle a bit too quickly and Howard’s camerawork never matches with some of the manic energy inherent in the film’s dialogue. Had the film kept it’s focus on what they brought to the film instead of some of the standard screenplay beats it could’ve transcended its more rudimentary pieces. I wish the film had gone “there” because the cast is full of actors who tend to get overlooked and they absolutely rise to the occasion when given the chance.
This film could’ve been hard hitting but it decided to pull its punches instead.
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars.
