A long drawn out film about investigating wrong doing She Said gives too many memories about the dynamic duo of Bernstein and Woodward in All the President’s Men. Entertainment value drops immediately with an introduction that includes a smear of a former President and a Fox News Host that look like the filmmakers next targets. The film is supposed to be new evidence about film mogul Harvey Weinstein, but it uses deadline pressure and bringing up the hurtful past of their witnesses as good investigation by two New York Times reporters. However, the production value is very good, acting above par and the side stories of the two main characters Megan Towhey and Jodi Kantor are enlightening if true.
Some of the background if you missed it on some TV stations and publications include the reporting of other reporters like Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker that was in the race to report the story first. Mentioned in the film as an aside that he was about to release his findings, in reality Farrow’s publication shared the Pulitzer Prize in “Public Service” for his journalistic acumen with the New York Times reporters.
To be fair the story is about women and men who have been sexually harassed or even abused in the workplace. You know the founding of the Me Too movement. To come to that, it shows how the investigators took Harvey Weinstein down with a lot of work and costly trips. If true targeting persons in the film business needed a lot of pressure to have them come forward, as many of them were paid off years before Weinstein was brought to trial.
What the story doesn’t do is show the trial of Harvey Weinstein, only describes actual acts against the women Weinstein abused, and no more than a clip of the “MeToo” movement. I like the fact that it didn’t look politically motivated throughout most of the movie after the snide remarks at the start of the film. It does flow well, giving the audience pressure packed moments and even some uplifting results to the two reporter’s hard work.
The film has been rated R by the MPAA for language and descriptions of sexual assault. The results of the two reporters work are mentioned in a quick line about Harvey Weinstein’s conviction at the end of the film. The film was based on the book “She Said” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher
Directed By: Maria Schrader
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R for language and descriptions of sexual assault
Running Time: 2 hrs. 8 min.
Opening Date: November 18, 2022
Distributed by: Universal Picturees
Released in: Theaters
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
