Jack and I liked a lot this story of 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes and the scandal when she, her team, and Dan Rather uncovered in 2004 George W. Bush's failure to fulfill his requirements in the Texas Air National Guard in the 70s. Cate Blanchett (last blogged for Cinderella) will get the Palm Springs International Film Festival Desert Palm Achievement Award for this and the movie Carol (coming later this year) and here puts in a terrific performance as the brilliant, dogged journalist. The real Mapes, on whose memoir the movie is based, is not unattractive, but Blanchett is positively luminous wearing an Armani wardrobe designed especially for the movie.
Probably my only quibble is that the filmmakers didn't even try to make Robert Redford (most recently in Captain America: The Winter Soldier) look anything like Rather. But we appreciated the avuncular chemistry between him and Blanchett. Topher Grace (I watched and loved all 179 episodes of That 70s Show, and also liked him in Traffic (2000), P.S. (2004), In Good Company (2004) (co-starring with Dennis Quaid), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Valentine's Day, and Interstellar, though I didn't mention him in the last two) brings some passion and righteous indignation to this role. Dennis Quaid (some of his best work before this was Breaking Away (1979), The Right Stuff (1983), Suspect (1987), The Big Easy (1986), Great Balls of Fire (1989), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Flesh and Bone (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), Something to Talk About (1995), Any Given Sunday (1999), Frequency (2000), Far From Heaven (2002), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), and the aforementioned In Good Company), Elisabeth Moss (last blogged for Top of the Lake), and John Benjamin Hickey (profiled in Get On Up) all contribute.
Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (co-wrote The Amazing Spider-Man), who makes his directing debut with high production values, agreed to shoot in Blanchett's home country of Australia so she could be near her family on the job. The soundtrack is by Brian Tyler (most recently in the pages for composing Avengers: Age of Ultron) and can be previewed on iTunes and other retailers.
One scene in the movie inspired me to write Rule #18. And many times Rule #6 is obeyed.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are lukewarm at 58% and its audiences are averaging 61. Haters gotta hate. We enjoyed it.
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