Oscar-Bait Crumbling Under Its Worth

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2016)

Spotlight is based on the true story of a Boston Globe editorial team's efforts to uncover systematic child abuse and abuser protection by the Catholic Church. Hardly fresh news, and a topic that will raise strong emotional reactions, and rightly so. But how does it hold up?
Given the weird emotional volatility surrounding this one, allow me to qualify this review (and its writer): the scandal revisited here is unarguably heinous, as are the many people who took part in perpetuating it. My own feelings about organized religion mean I was only mildly surprised, but then perhaps the subject of the clergy's hypocrisy is worth revisiting, as it has been in entertainment since Moliere's Tartuffe. But this is a film website, the medium is narrative film, and so Spotlight should - and shall, in the longer term - be judged.
This is a film that owes its success and Oscar nominations to its topic and, to a lesser extent, to its ensemble cast. It is also a throw-back to harder-nosed journalism-based films like All The President's Men - a much better, less self-righteous film. The end result however is a bit awkward: first, the structure is wobbly, throwing us in headfirst and assuming perhaps too much familiarity with the events. The character introductions are very rushed, which means it takes more time to build empathy, especially when it comes to the victims. The climax, such as it is, and ensuing denouement are a bit limp culminating in the obligatory white text on black background to tell you succinctly with words what the filmmakers could not achieve with visuals. It makes you wish, as many reviewers have, that this were a documentary.
The cast are uniformly good, with Stanley Tucci and Mark Buffalo the stand-outs, but these are solid, seasoned turns, nothing that cries out "best performance of the year". Technical credits are closer to a TV-movie than a major Hollywood release.
I can't give it credit merely for tackling an easy target from such a safe distance, but I would concede more points if it told its story more fluidly and dared to explore some of the more dangerous angles a bit more, such as police collusion, or that one memorable scene where a guilty priest rationalizes what he did in a way that hints at even worse events. Sadly, this chooses to play things way too safe.