Shattered Glass

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Lion's Gate Films. Running time: 99 minutes.</FONT></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> Superb "Glass" shatters writer's delusions</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> The central dilemma to good writing is that as a journalist you're called on to entertain and inform. It's not enough to craft a piece that's fact-based and well researched.  It's just as important that it have style, wit and good humor. That's why people read in the first place, isn't it?  </div> <bR> <div> Recent scandals at The New York Times, attributed to fallen reporter Jayson Blair's admitted plagiarism, parallel the incredible story of what went on several years earlier at The New Republic, "the official in-flight magazine of Air Force One."   In a startling new movie that probes the ethical dilemmas faced inside The New Republic and the fall from grace of Stephen Glass, one of their most prolific and (wildly) imaginative writers, first time writer-director Billy Ray has created a suspenseful meditation on the forging of ethics and facts, illuminating a scandal that brought The New Republic low and exposed a major fraud in the ranks.  "Shattered Glass," is the true story of Stephen Glass (Hayden Christiansen), the dethroned reporter for The New Republic, who fabricated scores of stories before being discovered and labeled a fraud. This recounting is a terrifically exciting film about a hell of a subject - abuse of trust and the value of journalistic ethics vs. entertainment - that probably hasn't been so richly mined in the movies since Bernstein and Woodward took on similar moral turf decades ago.   </div> <bR> <div> As the film opens, Ray cleverly posits Stephen Glass as a homecoming big wheel of sorts, giving a lecture on writing success to a Highland Park, Illinois, high school, all beaming and star struck with his meteoric success.  The film then weaves through time and events to explore Glass's rise and fall at The New Republic, where he began as a wet behind the ears, eager beaver and graduated to most popular member of the editorial staff, loved by editors and fellow writers alike.  When beloved chief editor Mike Kelly (Hank Azaria) is relieved of his responsibilities and the promotion of fellow reporter Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) to editor comes from within the ranks, the fiercely dedicated staff wrongly mistakes Lane for the bad guy, creating an uncomfortable office rift.  Meanwhile Glass, a gawky insecure geek, with a penchant for show stopping editorial meetings, gains popularity in the group, winning their hearts and minds with his seemingly endless ability to find and deliver the most consistently clever and entertaining material.  </div> <bR> <div> When a couple of crafty researchers over at Forbes (including the excellent Steve Zahn) get on to some loopholes in one of Glass's stories, the whole thing eventually comes crashing down like a house of cards, including Glass, the idealism of his fellow writers and The New Republic itself.  Glass, whom we initially assume to be a low-level fibber, ups the ante to an unbelievable stake, going to great lengths to cover his tracks with elaborate lie after lie, creating fake sources, dummied corporate web sites, phony biz cards and pretty much using every deceptive trick in the book.  It makes you wonder why this guy didn't just pool his considerable creativity into the writing itself and avoid the entire mess in the first place, or at least choose a different career… in screenwriting.  </div> <bR> <div> What's so terrific about "Shattered Glass" <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >-</FONT> beyond the sheer entertainment value of watching a fabulously deceptive, tinkering mind <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >-</FONT> is the level of intelligence and immediacy Ray brings to his subject.  It's also refreshing to see the passion that drives the young reporters.  At a time when most young people in American movies have nothing on their mind beyond shameless, juvenile hijinks, "Shattered Glass" contains several well-drawn young adults, who are fascinated by and in love with their profession and their co-workers.    </div> <bR> <div> Chloe Sevigny has built a reputation as the indie actress who keeps surprising us with diverse and intelligent turns in diametrically opposed films.  As she did this summer in Olivier Assayas' mind-blowing "Demonlover," she once again creates a memorable portrait of a young woman with ideals and smarts, who is articulate, persuasive and in control.  When everything falls apart in a smart late scene with Sarsgaard, she's forced to choose between the dearness of her journalistic ethics and the dearness of a good friend.  She handles the scene and the role with a directness and clarity that's impressive. </div> <bR> <div> But the film belongs to its two lead actors, and both Christiansen and Sarsgaard have tricky and rich characters here.  Stephen Glass, as played by Christiansen, is desperate-to-belong, cloying, painfully insecure, sexually ambiguous and cunning in his machinations.  It's a show-offy role, and Christensen again reminds us what a good actor he is away from the wooden "Star Wars" work one has to assume can be attributed to Mr. Lucas and company.  In a way, he's playing the antithesis to the angry young man he so effectively drew in "Life as a House."  His Glass, bespeckled, awkward, begging for praise and attention with look-at-me boardroom theatrics, is an American corporate tragedy of sorts - though never far from a comic one.</div> <bR> <div> Sarsgaard, on the other hand, might have the more interesting role and difficult performance.  Memorable as the redneck best friend and rapist of "Boys Don't Cry," and capable in the forgettable John Leguizamo vehicle "Empire," "Shattered Glass" should propel his estimable talents to a new level.   Next to Christensen's flamboyance, he's all reserve, observation, analysis, and finally exhausted desperation. Lane fascinates on numerous occasions here, from his first day on the job as editor to his former peers, navigating the tensions and suspicions of his new staff, to his climactic confrontation and exposing of Glass.   Through the film, as the stew with Glass thickens and we see Lane's gradual shift from trust to suspicion to the embarrassingly unthinkable prospect that he (and the magazine) has been duped, his disillusionment and rage are palpable.  </div> <bR> <div> At a time when American films are creatively bankrupt and recycled ad nauseum, here's a genuinely intelligent and absorbing film that couldn't feel more timely or relevant.  That it's written, directed and performed with such directness and intelligence is refreshing.  That it's emerged in a year of American dreck seems like some kind of small miracle.  "Shattered Glass" is one of 2003's keepers.  </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Lee Shoquist © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>lee@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>