TRUE STORY
Directed by Rupert Goold
Screenplay by Rupert Goold; Michael Finkel; and David Kajganich
Based on the memoirs of Michael Finkel
Starring: Jonah Hill; James Franco: and Felicity Jones
When accused killer Christian Longo (Franco) is caught in Mexico, he uses the name of a former New York Times reporter Michael Finkel (Hill) as his alias. When the unemployed Finkel hears about this he smells a story and precedes to interview Longo. Thus begins an odd relationship between the two.
The movie is built as a Cat And Mouse game, which I did not see. I just saw a writer desperate to repair his image. He smells money for a book and gets frustrated because he cannot figure out the truth. Mainly because Longo is a professional liar. Now, what Finkel does not know is he is being used by Longo by teaching Longo how to tell a "story".
The film is well acted. Hill is very good as the frustrated and confused and maybe a little sleazy Finkel. Franco is well, Franco. However...he is cast perfectly...which make his performance fantastic. He drips with sleaze, but somehow he comes across as innocent...and to the viewer it makes him even more scary. Felicity Jones is wasted. I can see the writers saying "We need a woman in this film, find out about Finkel's wife". In reality she does not matter and at one point she does something odd that makes no sense. I was in the theatre with my hands up thinking "What are you doing??!!.
I walked out of the theatre thinking that there is not much of a story here and if it was going to be made maybe a small screen film on cable or even a stage play. The story that is about Longo a killer...who killed his wife and kids. He is the face of evil and getting this attention is gives me the "Heeebies". Yes there have been other films about killers like Ted Bundy, however that film (small screen) was about the investigation and how he was caught and how detectives searched for evidence. That is what made the Bundy film interesting, how detectives took years, but were relentless searching for this man. This film starts where the investigation ends, here we see just an evil person who killed his family and was caught right away. Cut and dry.
2 1/2 stars out of 5 for True Story, 2 1/2 stars for the actors.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time
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