Clooney Don't Preach...

Rating: 4/10 (3 January 2006)

When a movie begin and ends with a speech, it is not a good sign. I went to see George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck last night and I was underwhelmed. The movie is barely two-dimensional in its association of President George Bush's exploitation of terrorism with Senator Joesph McCarthy's own of Communism.
I, of course, agree with Clooney's thesis that our President's use of the threat of terrorism to further his own power grab is shameful. But, George, George, George, you're no Costa-Garvas.
Clooney's use of three characters  Joe Wershba (Robert Downey Jr.), Shirley Wershba (Patricia Clarkson) and Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise)  to interject some sense of conflict and emotion flops. His own portrayal of Murrow's producer Fred Friendly was so deadpan as to render even Clooney nearly invisible.
Going in Clooney faced much the same problem as Alan Pakula. The audience knows very well how the movie ends, so how do you make it interesting? Pakula, and even, I'm ashamed to admit it, James Cameron, get it right. Clooney doesn't.
What we get, instead, is much the same as Clooney staring into the camera for 93 minutes and repeating: Bush Bad Yes, George, he is. Now go back to making movies instead of agitprop.