Movie Critique: ‘Shattered Glass’ (2003) Fails to Make the Cut (Chicago, IL) – Shattered Glass is a dramatic retelling of the real-life story of Stephen Glass, a young journalist at The New Republic who fabricated numerous stories, ultimately shaking the journalism world.
Directed by Billy Ray, the film explores themes of ambition, deception, and the pressure to succeed. Hayden Christensen stars as Glass, with Peter Sarsgaard playing his skeptical editor, Charles Lane. The movie delivers a tense, psychological exploration of integrity in journalism, emphasizing the fallout of dishonesty in a field that relies on trust.
Photo by Jonathan Wenk – © 2003 Lions Gate Films Inc. All rights reserved.
Starting the movie, Shattered Glass, was very exciting as it’s in the historical film genre (which is my favorite). With little knowledge of the historical facts nor the story in general I dove in with Amish Country popcorn in hand. The movie starts out with scenes that don’t really provide much in the way of character development or in establishing a relationship with characters other than the main actor. The scene transitions are slow, which could be OK for this genre, but it didn’t work well here. The slowness of the scenes and transitions coupled with the lack of development really dragged on this historical story throughout. Because the content was historically relevant, of courses it makes those appreciative of the history try to stay engaged.
This movie has very poor directing with a cast of actors, that, 20 years later seem great. But this movie does not bring out the skills of these well known actors very well. As far as the historical accuracy of the film, the movie does seem to cover the story closely. I give it a 4 out of 5 for historical accuracy.
Photo by Jonathan Wenk – © 2003 Lions Gate Films Inc. All rights reserved.
Now The Stars
I can only imagine that those with prior knowledge of Glass’s plagiarism scandal with one of the most respected magazines in the world, are of a different opinion of this movie. That prior knowledge may shield the issues with the movie because people like to see history visualized in film. I give this movie 5 stars (out of 10) and really want to give it a 4. I will have to watch it several more times since I’m 20 years late in this critique and Historical Films are my favorite genre. So far to date, this is the only film on the subject.
Movie Critique: ‘Shattered Glass’ (2003) Fails to Make the Cut
