Very good film but not that brilliant.

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2006)

I enjoyed this film, greatly appreciated that it was shot in black and white, thought the acting throughout the cast was excellent and would give full marks to the close-up photography. It was atmospheric and as a past student of politics, the film based itself on a subject, which like many others, I was familiar. That certainly helped and I would suggest some background knowledge, at the very least, is essential for this film to be understood, let alone appreciated. But in truth, away from the hype, it was not an exceptional piece of work; it was just extremely good.
A surprise was the low key way in which it was all played. This was, of course deliberate, but I felt at the end of the film I knew not one thing more about the character of Ed. Murrow than I did at the beginning. In addition, while I appreciate that news journalists must have been a cynical breed in that atmosphere, the reaction in the newsroom to the announcement that Senator McCarthy was himself to be the subject of investigation by a Senate Committee, was very muted; disappointingly so.
The Director may have been wishing to avoid the pitfalls of All The Presidents Men, with two Washington Post journalists patently played by two film stars (Redford and Hoffman). Goodnight,and Good Luck succeeded in avoiding that but managed to leave me somewhat frustrated. The film length, too, was very short and I think that a little more information as to what lay ahead in the lives of Murrow and McCarthy would have been useful. My partner in the cinema, when the film ended said, "is that it?" This is one of the few films where I never felt I got inside the mind of one single character, though in fairness the basis of the story, McCarthy, was played for real on the newsreels from the 1950's, so that would have been tricky. What I did enjoy very much was the studio scenes when the programme was on the air. These were most realistic, both politically gripping and very intense. Full marks to all concerned.
Whatever criticisms I may make, it was in the search of perfection, for a film that is centred around free speech, political tolerance of a contrary point of view and, of course, media reporting, deserves much credit for even trying. For that alone and of course much more besides, George Clooney and his team deserve our thanks and appreciation.