TRUMBO (Jay Roach). 124 minutes. Opens Friday (November 27). See listings. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes
Jay Roach’s Trumbo is the West Coast answer to Good Night, And Good Luck, telling the story of Senator Joe McCarthy’s assault on American civil liberties from the perspective of the Hollywood screenwriter who undermined the blacklist by finding new ways to keep working.
Bryan Cranston has a hell of a time playing Dalton Trumbo, the crusading Communist who won Oscars for writing Roman Holiday and The Brave One – which were credited to a front and a pseudonym.
As in Roach’s previous political docudramas Recount and Game Change, a by-the-numbers story is embiggened by dead-on casting: Helen Mirren is magnificently snide as Hedda Hopper, Michael Stuhlbarg and Dean O’Gorman pull off Edward G. Robinson and Kirk Douglas respectively, and John Goodman steals his every scene as producer Frank King.
It’s not great cinema – it’s pretty much just good television – but Cranston’s fantastic, and it’s a story that’s certainly worth telling.
Don’t miss our interview with Bryan Cranston here.
