Middling and purely surface level, True Story mostly fails to captivate. Its two lead actors, Jonah Hill and James Franco, are also both miscast. C

True Story is a restrained and slowly burning, yet very riveting meditation on the point at which crime and journalism intersect (the true-crime genre pioneered by Truman Capote with In Cold Blood) and its inherent ethical conundrums. Jonah Hill portrays Michael, an ambitious and widely admired reporter whose star rapidly fades after it is revealed he conflated and toyed with details and personalities to enhance a prestigious cover story. James Franco co-stars as Christian, an Oregon man charged with the brutal murder of his wife and three children. Upon his arrest in Mexico, Christian tells the authorities he is Michael (he later claims to be a fan), and this inexplicable decision unites the two men, both cynics and fabulists in one way or another. Christian agrees to tell his side of a tragic tale, and Michael spots a complicated and even nauseating, but viable chance to revive his career in nonfiction. Previous comic collaborators Hill and Franco are in fine dramatic form, and their lengthy scenes together (the who-is-using-whom? dance of deductive questioning and macabre intellectual seduction) almost play as a dialed-down, more melancholy version of The Silence of the Lambs, which is perfectly welcome. The film is at once thoughtful and quietly creepy, and it generates a considerable amount of suspense without becoming garish or sacrificing its intelligence and integrity. Very satisfying.

A-

I thought it was fine, though incredibly unremarkable. The stand out here was Felicity Jones. Her scene with Franco near the end of the film was easily the best scene of the movie and I wish it went on longer. Hill and Franco are both serviceable, I don't have anything really negative to say about them but nothing overly positive either.

C+

Watched it again on Blu-ray. This is a very undervalued movie, in my opinion. It is so creepy and tense without sacrificing its low-key, no-bullshit journalistic tone. And both Hill and Franco are terrific.

True Story is good. It kept me engaged mostly throughout, and is well made from a perspective of sound and cinematography. I liked the lead performances as well. The film especially starts off well, but then while the story plays out I did have some problem with how some flashbacks are introduced at certain times. It loses some of linearity of the film for me. Further the ending felt a bit rushed, and I didn't like the last scene of the book reading. All together it was still pretty fascinating to watch, but comes up short to be really good.

B

True Bore