Despite being overloaded with expository dialogue, deft director manages exposé of church corruption with aplomb

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2015)

Tom McCarthy, an actor who's scrounged around for roles in both movies and TV for a good number of years, appears to have found his mettle as a director. Known principally for a couple of mediocre efforts ("The Visitor" and "Win, Win"), he now has taken on more heady material in Spotlight, which chronicles the 2001 Boston Globe investigation into pedophile priests and subsequent cover-up by the Archdiocese of Boston.
Spotolight begins with the arrival of a new editor at the Globe, Marty Baron, played by a rather taciturn Lev Schreiber. Baron is Jewish and finds himself a bit of an outsider in the majority Catholic city. Nonetheless he is determined that the Globe's crackerjack "Spotlight" squad of reporters dig deeper into this potential blockbuster crime story.
The two standouts amongst the reporters who investigate the minions and higher-ups within the Boston archdiocese are Michael Keaton as editor Walter "Robby" Robinson and reporter Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo). Keaton, proves after his pretentious role in the unfortunately acclaimed "Birdman," that he can still really act. And Rufallo is nicely quirky as the ace reporter who uncovers the critical documents that prove that Cardinal Law (Len Cariou of Blue Bloods fame) shielded pedophile priests on his watch.
Keaton and Ruffalo appear to have the best roles in this ensemble cast, as they play off two other characters throughout most of the narrative. Keaton's Robinson faces off against an old friend, Jim Sullivan (Jamey Sheridan), an attorney who represents the Church, who seeks to stymie his inquiries at every turn. And Rufallo's Rezendes is constantly trying to pry information out of attorney Mitchell Garabedian (played by a most believable Stanley Tucci) who seeks the protect his clients, victims of sexual abuse by parish priests.
The other members of the Spotlight team don't have as much to do: Brian d'Arcy James as Matt Carroll has his most memorable moment when he discovers the Catholic Church's annual reports that list all the priests who have been given special leave, suggesting that most of them have been involved in the sexual abuse scandal. Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer has a non-descript part tracking down victims of abuse as well as briefly discovering one pedophile priest who is willing to admit to nefarious acts. There's also John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr., the section chief, who appears reluctant at first to delve deep into the church's conduct but eventually comes on board as his crew makes headway into their investigation.
The actors in lesser roles in the film do quite well. A particular standout is Neal Huff as Phil Saviano, the head of a church victims sex abuse organization as well as Billy Crudup who plays Eric Macleish, an attorney who brokered deals with the Church to hush up victims' complaints. Macleish has the shocking last word after being accused of orchestrating the cover-up by claiming he had sent names of victims to the Globe years earlier and nothing was done. Robinson confirms this at the end in a mea culpa, admitting he was the reporter who sat on the story.
Spotlight in many ways is all narrative and there is little focus on developing the internal arcs of the principal characters. It's also overloaded with expository dialogue—at one point director McCarthy holds the camera static as one of the reporters collects information from an expert on pedophile priests who lives in another city and is someone we never get to see on screen.
With all that dialogue, Spotlight might have been better on television. Nonetheless, Tom McCarthy has taken a great leap forward as a director, putting together a story that doesn't lend itself to great visuals but remains fascinating in the vein of any well done police procedural.