OUT in Theaters: Keaton, McAdams, and Ruffalo Put a Spotlight on Catholic Coverups
The cast of “Spotlight.”
When that winter chill first hits the air, movie lovers and fashion gurus alike start to get a little wet because they know one thing is true: Oscar season has begun! While the Academy Awards themselves won’t be handed out until February of 2016, tis the season for the films and stars that we will see gracing the red carpet and taking the stage in a few short months to start hitting theaters and building that awards buzz. While some spectacular films have already hit theaters that you NEED to run out and see (*cough* Room *cough*), everyone knows November and December are when the big guns are brought out. Hitting theaters is a film that is all but a lock for a Best Picture nomination: Spotlight.
Spotlight tells the true story of the Boston Globe‘s investigative reporters that uncovered a massive molestation scandal and cover-up orchestrated by the Boston Archdiocese that had a monumental domino effect across Catholic churches internationally. The film begins in the Summer of 2001 with the arrival of new editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber, cross dressing veteran Vilma in Taking Woodstock) after the Globe got bought out by The New York Times and was facing that whole “uncertain future of print media” thing that hasn’t really gone away. The current “Spotlight team,” responsible for extensive investigative reporting for the Globe take immediate apprehension towards Baron when he suggests that they follow up on a story of a civil suit brought forth by 25 men alleging a Roman Catholic priest of sexually abusing them years before.
Rather than diving down the rabbit hole, the team takes their time, gathering sources and information before the compelling story draws them in and in turn draws in the audience. Spotlight editor Walter “Robby” Roberts (Michael Keaton, who was ROBBED of his Best Actor Oscar for Birdman last year) grew up in Boston through the church and Catholic school, and it’s his subtle, internal conflict as the story progresses that becomes the heart of the film. Reporter Matt Carroll (Broadway and “Smash” star Brian d’Arcy James) finds that the scandal hits too close to home and impassions him to make a real difference with this story. Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls, though if you haven’t seen her lesbian lip lock with Noomi Rapace in Passion yet, get your Netflix Watch Instantly on that) has the difficult task of tracking down and following up with countless unwilling victims before gaining enough information to paint the devastating picture. But it’s Mike Rezendes (a scenery chewing Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart) who cracks the story wide open – as they say in the biz – when he gets a lawyer for the victims, Mitchell Garabedian (a delightfully understated Stanley Tucci, The Hunger Games), to direct him towards the pieces of a much larger and more horrifying puzzle.
Rather than being a heavy handed tale of a systemic cover up and the Archdiocese’s institutionalized enablement of pedophilia (or as the film incorrectly describes it at one point as homosexual relationships with young boys, prolonging a decades old stereotype that homosexuals are a danger to children… but the film takes place in 2001, so I’ll give it a pass), Spotlight takes the approach of a news procedural. We see the sleuthing reporters getting doors slammed in their faces, five o’clock shadow rubbed in earnest as journalistic integrity is pondered, and files and records are poured over like the holy grails of information they could be. While Spotlight is no All the President’s Men or even The Paper (ironically also starring Michael Keaton), it certainly shines brighter than other films about the recent past (The Walk, Freeheld) and at least it isn’t littered with god awful attempts at Boston accents (I’m looking at you Black Mass), that results in a great film.
Yet I have to ask: Have you ever seen a film that was great? You know it’s great. Everyone tells you it’s great. All of the reviews say it’s great. But by the end of it… that’s all it is. Great. Spotlight tells an extraordinary true story in a rather in-extraordinary way. It is a straightforward film that, while it humanizes and honors the victims of unspeakable tragedy, chooses to showcase the mundanity of newspaper reporting and the tensions of a deadline and journalistic integrity that, frankly, we’ve seen before. It’s stellar cast is not wasted, but rather molded into a tight, understated ensemble that shines as a whole rather than individually. While I appreciate director Tom McCarthy’s (Win Win) ability to pull off such a feat… it’s not gonna help Keaton win the Oscar he deserved last year in this film that is simply: great.
Rating: Not an incredible A, but a great B+
Now Showing: Ritz East
