Exciting story of a scandal

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 2010)

The year is 1957, and everyone, it seems, is watching the popular TV game show, "Twenty-One." Contestants can stay on the show for weeks, earning then-astronomical sums of money and becoming household names. Such was the case for Herbert Stemple (John Turturro), a buck-toothed, blue-collar guy who raked in the money. Little did the public know that the show was entirely scripted and that Herb was told the answers in advance. When Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) a bright, attractive college instructor came on the show, the producers decided it was time for Herb to lose; he did and Van Doren became the biggest thing on television, even making the cover of Time Magazine. But he and the show were no match for Congressional watchdog Dick Goodwin (Rob Morrow) who exposed the show for the fraud that it was.
I was really surprised at how exciting this movie was. It's got humor and drama and is filled with tension. Fiennes portrays Van Doren as a witty, charming Connecticut Yankee from an influential family. We care about him and suffer with him as he prepares to confess his part in the fraud not only to Congress, but to his trusting father. Turturro's Herbie is a fascinating, naive, greedy man whose life was ruined by the show. Morrow is excellent as the whistle-blower.
The movie is a wonderful look back at a time when we as a people were so much more trusting and innocent. This scandal rocked the nation and changed us forever. This is a great movie.