How intriguing could a story about a botched Game Show really be? Very...in the right hands.

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2008)

Robert Redford is a great actor and he has had a lot of success with direction too and it wasn't until I actually started watching Quiz Show which I had wanted to see for a long time that I realized Redford wasn't in the movie but rather directed it so that kind of disappointed me. Although I wanted to see the movie because I liked Redford I truly had no idea what it was about, and I also didn't realize how based in truth it actually was until the movie prompted me to look into the fact behind it which was a lot and very interesting. It's even interesting and pertinent now seeing as how Game Shows have once again become so popular and makes you think a lot about that sort of thing. This is the key to Quiz Show, there are some really terrific, powerful performances and the direction and writing is simple and yet brilliant. The film is intellectually well done and still very entertaining to watch mostly because of the terrific cast and characters. It doesn't necessarily point fingers or tell you who was wrong and who was right but really takes this scandal and draws it out for you piece by piece and shows you everyones side and how it effects them. Anyone who enjoys a good strong movie could sit down and watch Quiz Show and be entertained by it, or thought provoked by it, and can get a variety of reactions out of it which is one of the things that makes it so intelligent. It's not action packed but character driven and the cast is so well picked that they make the characters come to life and seem completely intriguing to carry this story.
John Turturro, who is a first rate terrific actor plays Herbert Stempel, an every day blue collar guy who finds great success on the famous game show 21. Unfortunately his revenge antics gets the better of him when he is set up to take a dive and replaced by an intellectual ratings grabber. Turturro is brilliant in the role, case closed. You hate him and yet feel sorry for him all at once. Ralph Fiennes is absolutely amazing as new intellectual champ Charles Van Doren who literally as Eye of The Tiger says trades his passion for glory. His character is very conflicted, and a true anti hero in every sense of the word. He is amazing in this role and I've never seen him in anything much that impressed me like this. Rob Morrow is just amazing as the investigator in the Oversights committee Dick Goodwin who becomes attached to Fienne's character as a friend and tries to protect him while still doing his job to the very end. These three actors make this film everything that it is. While there are some impressive and strong supporting characters including the terrific and multi talented Hank Azaria and the subtle but well played performance by David Paymer, Morrow, Fiennes, and Turturro steal the show...no pun intended. Clearly they found a niche in each other because they have great chemistry together and tell a story that leaves you enthralled in such a simple scandal.
So far I have only seen two of Redford's direction projects...the other being last years panned Lions for Lambs which on the contrary I thought was downright brilliant (see my review.) Redford seems to want to tell a story regardless of what anyone else thinks because he is passionate about the content. Sounds silly in reference to a story about a rigged game show but somehow the passion for the content comes through loud and clear and while I wasn't quite blown away by the whole film, the performances, and the delicate re-creation of the time period and the entire world behind the scenes of the game show was brilliant. As I said earlier anyone can watch this and take something away from it even if it's as simple as saying...well that a good movie. But there is some very intellectual properties underlying and the three main cast members make the film really terrific. A great watch and I encourage anyone to check it out!! 8/10