Review – Good Night, and Good Luck

This was a good movie, which is unfortunate because in more skillful hands this could have been a great movie. Murrow’s battle against McCarthy was a fascinating and most film-worthy tale. David Straithairn does an excellent job in the lead, backed by a solid supporting cast. However, the script (when not quoting Murrow’s broadcasts directly) and the direction are weak. It wasn’t all bad. For example, I appreciated the decision to include some dry humor here and there. It was just so ham-handed. For example, try playing a drinking game in which you do a shot every time a group of characters is sitting around having a conversation when suddenly someone enters the scene to solemnly announce the next major plot development. You’ll be plastered (if not dead from alcohol poisoning) by the end of the movie. Further, those not old enough to remember McCarthyism directly (a good-sized chunk of the audience by now) might have been better served by at least some indication of the depths of the menace of the HUAC (Guilty By Suspicion did a better job with this). Without the full sense of paranoia, Murrow appears to be crusading based solely on principle rather than out of a desperate need to rid the country of a great wrong. All that aside, however, this is an hour and a half of solid, inspirational entertainment. Worth seeing