What's Wrong With This Picture?

Rating: 5/10 (26 November 2015)

"Spotlight" is based on one the biggest scandals that has rocked the Catholic church, and just about anything which affects religion and its consequences, is the stuff that fuels the best dramas and performances. Mix children, cover ups, legal maneuvers, with some of the best working today, and you should have a winner, but "Spotlight" is a long way from achieving its goal.
Michael Keaton is a hundred times better than he was in "Birdman", where he looked like has no direction at all. Here he's a conflicted soul who must weigh his working ethics against his personal faith. He, along with his team become part of an investigation that reveals darker truths that they imagine or want to hear. We see stereotype after type make appearances: the eager reporter, the centered editor, the professional lawyer, the loyal follower, the reporter with the big heart, etc. The entire bunch of elements are there, but there is something that throws the whole film out of balance for no matter how horrendous every discovery is, we remain numb, and this is not the result of our shock. It's just the inability of the film makers to connect to either th material or provide that connection to us.
Scorcese's film about Christ's alternate life was one of the most controversial ever, only to culminate in one of the most faith reaffirming moments in cinema. "All The President's Men" remains the finest example of newspaper reporting cinema, engaging us with fine performances, a magnificent script, and some of the exciting directing choices for this type of film. That world is dark and threatening, and no matter how many times we see it, we are full participants in the reporters' quest. Redford's and Hoffman's turns are classic. Here, the actors try really hard to save the day, but they have limited material to work with. It's not the nature of the controversy, but the poor adaptation that ends up feeling like we're watching a poorly edited documentary that says a lot but forgets the hideous nature of the problem. We have statistics thrown at us every five minutes, and we are given the token shocking lines and scenes, but with a couple of exceptions they feel empty, hollow.
Ruffalo is wasted, McAdams was way more interesting in "Morning Glory" where she was allowed to open her soul. Here she reads her lines, stands where the marks are, but one can sense a little frustration as it's clear she's trying to hard. Keaton is the only one who is able to come up with a semblance of pain and conflict, and Liev is one character that because of his role manages to ring true since he's not given the opportunity to be smothered by bad script.
If you want to feel the emotional power of the story, read the novel where we get closer and deeper in the hell that these incidents were. I was wondering why that annoying and overbearing score kept intruding, and in one of the few moments of quiet, it stops, giving the film more power by its mere absence, only to be ruined a chorus of snoring patrons behind me that had already succumbed to this overlong and uninvolving piece of film.