They suspect Communist infiltration in the arts, and Chairman Dies's subcommittee holds hearings on the subject. This might lead one to believe that the film is a hard-hitting indictment of politics run amuck, but it isn't. Writer and director Tim Robbins has hired half of his Hollywood friends to appear in his three-ring circus of a movie. Everything is rushed.
Actors run onto the set, rattle off their lines and run off again.
Robbins then quickly cuts to an entirely different group of actors telling another part of the story. Adding to the unrealistic, circus-like atmosphere of the production is a pair of lovers who have a propensity to sneak away, remaining in view of the others and the camera, as they disrobe and have enthusiastic sex. The rest of the large and talented cast includes Joan Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, John Carpenter and Gretchen Mol. Almost all of them overact in their brief time in front of the camera. None of the characters are compelling, and, if the movie had aired on television, I'm sure I would have turned it off long before it was over.