Solid character based drama focuses on ethical problems

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2006)

I found this film very interesting -- it concerns the collapse of the game show bubble in the 1950s, when a famous professor's son became a quiz show champion only to be disgraced when it was made public that he had been given answers in advance.
None of the characters did anything really all that wrong in terms of morality.... they lied, they cheated, but nobody was killed, and arguably other than fooling some people no one was really hurt. So this film really is an examination of ethics, of the ultimate importance (or lack thereof) of truth and integrity in the academic and governmental worlds.
The 3 actors playing the principle roles are impeccable. John Turturro, always a convincing and riveting character actor, puts in one of his better and more substantial performances as the original quiz show champ, Herbie Stemple, who is deposed by the academic hot-shot Van Doren. Van Doren is essayed by Ralph Fiennes, who really steals the film in a lot of ways with his performance. He's tragic, you want to like him, but at the same time you know that his honesty and his integriy only go so far. He too has been corrupted by the money, and by the urge to distinguish himself from his father's fame and stand on his own. So ultimately you do feel sorry for him. Rob Morrow does a fine job as the government's man, Goodwin, who exposes the scam. He brings to the fore the real ethical problem that the film wants to expose -- the fact that the machinations of Congress and the anger of the American people were focused on Van Doren and the other quiz show cheaters, and not on the studio network heads and the corporate sponsors (a memorably low-key performance by director Martin Scorsese) who are just as responsible for the deception.
One weakness -- I thought the character of Sandra Goodwin, played by Mira Sorvino, was either under-written or edited out of the film too heavily. At one point she and her husband have a really grisly argument about why he is not going to call Van Doren to the stand, and it really feels like her criticism (the intensity of it especially) is coming out of nowhere. I suspect a scene may have been deleted, or I would have to blame poor writing, but it really felt disjointed to me and my girlfriend commented to me about the same thing.
All around a solid effort, one of Redford's best films.