Good Night and Good Luck

Finally saw this film today (just trying to mark through most of the Oscar contenders, and this one just kept getting pushed back for one reason or another).

Perhaps in keeping with the times, I found it a little staid, a little brisk, I found myself wanting more. Maybe Clooney didn't want to get bogged down in minutia of the research put forth by Murrow's team, but it played lighter than I would have expected given the subject matter. The only excess being the subplot with married characters played by Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downney Jr, which got built up with little in terms of payoff.

Straithairn's performance anchors the film in conviction and character, the rest of the cast provide a good framework of the CBS production of Murrow's show, but it's very plot-driven, and focused on the task at hand (how Murrow exposes Sen. McCarthy's tactics and standing up to the bullying under the auspices of rooting out communists in the government, while also dealing with the fall-out of such an endeavor).

I give it 3 stars or a grade of B.