If You Admire the Craft of Film-making, this one's for you.

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2006)

Good Night and Good Luck enters into the territory of films like Appolo 13 and to a certain extent even Revenge of the Sith which tell an intensely compelling story to which everyone knows the ending. It is an unenviable task, to be certain. We know the start and end, what we are interested in is the details. GN&GL is an engaging, skillfully made period piece which make no bad decisions.
Telling the story of the fabled and public battle of Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joe McCarthy, director and co-start George Clooney does a near perfect job of transporting the audience back to the 50s. An age when America's most respected news anchor would still smoke on TV. When communism was what terrorism is today.
The key to this film is casting McCarthy as himself, using only newsreel footage and actual McCarthy speeches and quotes, rather than having him played by an actor. This gives a documentary-like authenticity to this film that it would otherwise never have and it is the key to its success.
The film portrays Murrow as an intelligent man, defender of freedom of the press, eloquent and of the highest integrity, which he was. It portrays McCarthy as an likely-insane demagogue, power hungry and exploiting fear, which he was. In other words, it completely succeeds in re-telling the tale. David Straithairn, long an underrated character actor adds great depth to what could have been a one note performance as Murrow.
GN&GL is, however, style over substance and craft over content. It does not stray even the slightest from its mission, and thereby may prove to be a little dull for some viewers. If you are the type who can watch a movie and appreciate it for its skill, then this is worth watching. ***1/2 out of ****.