Very relevant and important, but not very good

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2016)

"Spotlight" is an American movie from last year that runs for slightly over 2 hours and was written and directed by Tom McCarthy. It won two Academy Awards earlier this year, including the grand prize for Best Picture. And the reason for this is probably that it is about a really important subject, namely the way it was discovered by a major newspaper that pedophilia was something that existed on a larger scale in the Church, despite many attempts of the latter to keep it disclosed. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams managed Oscar nominations for their supporting performances. I cannot say I agree with either sadly. McAdams played her part well, had a couple good moments, but I don't think it was one of the best of the year in her category. Probably more of a coattail nomination, I remember it was also pretty surprising she got in. Ruffalo's nomination was no surprise, he got in at all the precursors too. But I had sometimes problems with his performance. It seem over-the-top theatrical and it had a touch of one man against the Church at times, which went entirely against the idea of the team collaboratively managing great things. I am usually a fan of Ruffalo and he has good moments here too, but I think a mix of not so good writing and perhaps not the best approach to the role may have hurt the character. Keaton, Tucci, Slattery and Schreiber are pretty much the same, good but not great, but probably on par with the two nominees. It was a team effort and nobody really stood out. Seeing these names now I kinda think it helped McAdams with her nomination that she was the only female from the bunch.
In terms of the entire film, I summarized it appropriately in the title I believe. It is a very important subject and it was a strong cast making this subject work with dignity and professionalism, but I personally felt the heart was missing. And this subject certainly would have deserved to make a more emotional impact in the grand scheme of things than it did on me. The attempts by McCarthy to deliver in terms of that were something that felt rather forced than effective to me. They brought in references to the journalists' private lives and how it impacted them to some extent, but it did not feel too compelling for me to watch these and the victims also did not add as much as I hoped they would. The ending with Keaton's "Spotlight" quote was nicely done though. I also liked the way they brought in 9/11 getting in the way of disclosing the events. Overall, I believe this is an important movie that is worth watching mostly because it all happened in reality and because with the Best Picture win, it is probably now the defining film on a very contemporary and tragic occurrence of events. But I still feel it did not make the impact that it could have made and my favorite McCarthy film to this day stays "The Visitor". But I recommend "Spotlight" too of course. I would say it's nowhere near the best or worst Best Picture Academy Award winners.