Worth seeing, but don't expect too much

Rating: 6/10 (16 October 2005)

There is so much to like about this movie--the cinematography, the editing the actors, and, most of all, this dramatic era in American history. So it was particularly disappointing when the film itself seemed to run out of drama about a third of the way in.
After CBS makes a decision on whether or not to air a sympathetic piece on Lt. Radulovich's dismissal from the air-force in the wake of McCarthy-led national hysteria, the movie walks at an even pace to the end with a strange lack of tension or much connection between these rather flat characters and the larger world of events and people outside the newsroom.
That said, there's a lot worth seeing. Patricia Clarkson, as usual, is terrific. She steals every scene, even those with an unusually subdued Robert Downey, Jr. The film looks beautiful, richly lit and making good use of ubiquitous cigarette smoke to capture the atmosphere of the era. Clooney makes great use of old footage, such as a fun nod to America's denial of homosexuality with an actual Morrow interview with Liberace. .