Shattered Glass
Review by Pam & George Singleton for Reel Movie Critic
HHH½
Cast
Hayden Christensen	Stephen Glass
Peter Sarsgaard	Chuck Lane
Chloe Sevigny	Caitlin
Steve Zahn	Adam

Directed by Billy Ray. Dramatic journalism based upon a true story. Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references and brief drug Lion's Gate Films. Running time: 103 minutes.

We know which are the liberal and conservative talk shows, with political pundits that have a point of view (POV) that does not change. We expect, somehow, that solid print journalism, even if it has a political slant in a particular direction, contains essentially facts that present the reader with enough information to draw their own conclusions. There is a difference between an editorial, a columnist's POV, solid reporting, and fiction. We expect the reporter to tell the "facts, just the facts."

TV news seems to be all about tantalizing you with teasers to entice you tune in, and then to hold off airing the story as long as possible, to keep you from channel surfing. This is needed to justify the sky-high ad rates, so those big time bucks can be dropped to the bottom line. We like Diane Burns (a Chicago anchor who recently jumped from one network to another), but should anybody be paid $2 million a year because they are beautiful, can read a TelePrompTer and are able to smile at the same time? At least the folks on the morning national network shows have to ask hard questions (even if written by someone else) and deal with the curve ball responses they get. They have to be able to think on their feet.

So for many of us, reading the newspaper or a well-regarded national magazine is that source of "informed and relatively unbiased news with depth." After seeing a Pulitzer won based upon a total fabrication, lies at the New York Times about the war in Iraq and Stephen Glass's major falsehoods in 27 of the 41 articles he wrote for "The New Republic"…just who can we believe? If there is any message in "Shattered Glass" it's that if you wish to consider yourself an informed and enlightened person, you must get information from multiple sources and worship no one, nor any organization.

Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) was only seven years out of high school when he landed a major reporting job at "The New Republic," a magazine that was the "official" rag of Air Force One. The 15 young writers, with an average age of 26, were writing articles that they considered not so much liberal, but progressive. The notion was that truth will prevail and we're doing the right thing.

Motivated by parents, who expected only the best from their son and his older brother, all of who set the performance bar high, Glass began his tenure at "The New Republic." He soon learned to combine his talent and art for conversation with a creative imagination, and he became a star. Hayden Christensen presents an effective, though annoying at times (especially to Pam), self-deprecating portrayal of Glass. He gives him a glossy, supercilious veneer. It's probably meant to allow for sympathy when he falls. We don't know how close to the truth of Glass's persona this characteristic is. The performance is terrific - the ploy for sympathy doesn't work for us.

Formerly a peer reporter, but now the editor of "The New Republic," Chuck Lane's (Peter Sarsgaard) suspicions were confirmed when a rival magazine, the now defunct on-line publication "Forbes Digital Tool," wanted to do a follow up on Glass's hot story, "Hack Heaven." That was a piece about a young hacker who was recruited by the people whose security shield he penetrated. The problem was that the person, the company, the convention where the announcement took place…everything was a fabrication.

When the "Tool" editor pushed his star reporter Adam (Steve Zahn) on why he totally missed the story, Adam and his rookie protégé Andie (Rosario Dawson) starting digging, and without much effort found that literally every source did not check out.

Caitlin and Amy (Chloe Sevigny and Melanie Lynskey) were peer reporters of Glass, inspired by his "successes," and did not want to believe he had spun journalistic fantasies.

Idealism is one thing but these eager yuppies made it hard to have compassion for their naiveté. They seemed stuck on themselves with their fine education, assumed intellect, and prestigious jobs.