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Directed by: Billy Ray Starring: Hayden Christiansen, Peter Sarsgaard Hayden Christiansen, in a role that shows he can actually act, plays Stephen Glass, who was a journalist at The New Republic, one of the most influential political magazines in the country. During the course of the movie, we begin to realize that Glass, motivated by approval of his peers, and his ambition for success, would twist, and sometimes blatantly make up facts, to sell a story. How he was able to get away with it for so long tells us much about the state of journalism today, and about human character. Glass shows how journalists can evade and manipulate the fact-checking system that is supposedly set up to ensure the truthfulness of what's written. Also Glass effectively manipulates the best of humanity to his own ends, playing on pity, sympathy, and self-effacement. His continuous question "are you mad at me", when faced with someone who is questioning the truthfulness of what he wrote, is not only a genuine question by someone fearful of peer disapproval, but a disarming tactic that plays on the compassionate qualties of his peers. However Glass's ambition, and feeling of invulnerability, causes him to make one too many exaggerated claims, which begins to be scrutinzed by the new editor of TNR. This was one of my top 10 movies last year, and I thought excelled in almost all areas. The writing in the movie is fantastic, being simultaneously thought provoking and riveting. The director, a first-timer, does a masterful job. And the acting was fantastic, especially by Sarsgaard, who plays the chief editor at TNR and begins to scrutinze Glass's practices. And as mentioned before, Hayden gives a good performance that shows that under a good director he can actually act. Trying to determine the quality of Hayden's performance though was sometimes frustrating for me, as I could not look at him as objectively as I could the rest of the actors. Anyways I highly recommend this movie for anyone looking for an inside look into journalism today. Or just for anyone looking for a thought provoking and entertaining drama. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Excellent acting, writing, directing CONS: Doesn't go into as much detail about Glass's motivation as I would have liked. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323944/
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Oct 15, 2004 21:35
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i saw this movie in my journalism class last year and loved it. i never thought i'd see a review of it up on here but it deserves one. i am adding my vote of 4.5.
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Oct 18, 2004 10:06
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I wanted more scenes of Glass getting busted and squirming in his lies. I love that stuff. I could've gone for another hour of it. Rating: 3.5
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Feb 9, 2005 19:59
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Nice review theblackw0lf. I agree with basically everything here so far. Great film. It accomplishes everything it sets out to do. It's just the story of Stephen Glass, and it's very well done and convincing. Not having a more extended ending makes it even better I think because it leaves you with all your opinions and emotions that you gathered from the story. I'm bad at explaining this. I just liked the movie and thought it was pretty much perfect in every way. 5/5. One of my favorite movies of 04
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Feb 15, 2005 05:46
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I've gotta say this movie was quite excellent. Despite the horrendous acting in Episode 2 (which I think has more to do with Lucas directing than Hayden's own skill), I think Hayden Christiansen did a great job. I saw this film about 2 years ago but I can't remember the last time I saw something done on Journalism. Very interesting and original in my opinion. 4.5/5
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Feb 15, 2005 07:11
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