Spotlight good but unexceptional; why tell the story now? It's a glorified HBO movie.

Rating: 7/10 (10 April 2016)

(As e-mailed to relatives and attorney friends.)
I rented a Blu-ray disc of the movie. Albeit I held on to it for days and then I had to pay almost ten bucks in accrued rental fee, because I've been busy and am quite lazy when it comes to priority of watching movies at home.
While the movie Spotlight is well-made, it's not exceptional and it's a standard movie. It feels like a slickly produced HBO movie at times.
I would expect this movie to bash Catholic religion, but it's more restrained. But why this story needed to be told in movie form is a bit strange, given the topic.
I enjoyed Zodiac and The Insider, based on true stories, and these are far superior compared to this movie that plays like a "TV-M" Hallmark movie.
The reason why I mention this movie to you is two reasons: the rare topics that relate to lawyering and journalism.
But given the precedents like the aforementioned favorite movies I cited above, Spotlight isn't that fantastic.
Spotlight won Oscars for Best Picture and Best original Screenplay, and I think Best Picture is unwarranted, but I also thought script was very good that held the movie well for two hours instead of three long, almost drab hours.
I recommend the movie just for brief lawyer "mumbo jumbo" if that will pique your interest how movie depict lawyering.
In my opinion, Spotlight is overrated but a tad respectful in its sensitive treatment on the controversial topic involving sex abuse within Catholic church.
One thing I disagree with is the given MPAA rating that gave this movie an R rating. It should be PG-13, but the MPAA thought the subject is too mature, so they automatically gave it an R rating, for adult themes alone, besides brief language and relevant sexual abuse references.
MPAA is really out of touch. In my opinion, for example, The Insider should have gotten a PG13 rating, despite some language. It's a relatively "bloodless" movie but still great.