When SHE SAID hit theatres late in 2022, it failed to find an audience. I also found myself wondering if I needed to see a movie about the slime ball that is Harvey Weinstein. He’s a repulsive predator. Do I really want to spend two hours reliving his exploits?
No.
But that’s not what SHE SAID is.
It’s a fast paced, intelligent thriller about New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) unveiling an important story that broke the back of the casting couch tradition in Hollywood.
With all the fast-paced intrigue and powerful revelations of “All the President’s Men”, Twohey & Kantor face resistance and tangible danger as they unfold three decades of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and abuse of power.
When Jodi meets former Miramax assistant Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton) in a London pub, their conversation pulls you into the movie by your guts. What she shares about being at the Venice Film Festival with another female assistant and Harvey is horrific.
Ashley Judd appears as herself at a pivotal point in the story. Her sharing of the stark truth of her experiences is powerful.
Witnesses begin to multiply, and more women come forward, leading to a tense, confrontational conference call between the New York Times gathered around their conference room, ready to go to print and Weinstein & his lawyers. It’s as tense a scene as any suspense film I’ve seen in the past year, which is amazing since I knew the outcome going in.
The cast is excellent across the board, with Mulligan (Inside Llewyn Davis, The Great Gatsby) and Kazan (The Big Sick) leading the way as two very different women trying to change long-standing abuse of women in the workplace.
Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher lend great weight to the Times staff and own the screen every time they step onto it.
The screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz is taut and fast paced, dumping a thousand disturbing facts on you Sorkin-style while providing real depth to the reporter’s personal lives.
Director Maria Schrader shot the film in the real New York Times building, the first movie ever to do so. It lends great credibility and atmosphere to the film.
Like “President’s Men”, Spielberg’s “The Post” and “Spotlight” before it, SHE SAID is an engrossing and intelligent look at a pivotal time in journalism that impacted the globe.
It’s a powerful story and one hell of a movie.
SHE SAID gets an A.
Commentaires