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TRUE STORY Send This Review to a Friend
Based on real events, “True Story” is a creepy tale that is involving yet unsatisfying. The problem is that the key figures don’t come off well, thereby not making us care what happens. The screenplay was written by Rupert Goold and David Kajganich, based on the book by Michael Finkel, with Goold directing.
Finkel is a journalist whose connection with the New York Times is severed when it is revealed that he had falsified reportage. He moves to Montana, were he is living when he discovers that an accused murder, Christian Longo, has been in Mexico and calling himself Michael Finkel. The real Finkel becomes fascinated and travels to Oregon, where Longo was imprisoned after his capture, to meet Longo and write about him.
Jonah Hill plays Finkel, James Franco is Longo. The unsavory part of the film is that each man is using the other. Finkel is attempting to regain his credibility. Longo is cannily toying with Finkel in their prison meetings. Is Longo really guilty of having killed his wife and three children? Finkel is seeking the truth, which is elusive given Longo’s attempts to create doubts about what happened, and Finkel is being played for a sucker.
Felicity Jones portrays Jill Barker, Finkel’s girlfriend, annoyed at how all-consumed he becomes, which is not much of a part for the interesting actress, and there is a scene that comes off rather improbably as she visits Longo in prison to express her anger. (Longo was convicted of murder, condemned to death and is now on death row.)
There is nothing wrong with the acting jobs by Hill and Franco. It is just that their respective characters as depicted in this “True Story” are uncomfortably self-serving. They seem to deserve each other. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release. Reviewed April 19, 2015.
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