The Trial of the Chicago 7

Grade: B

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is one of those movies where everyone knows exactly what to say at any given moment. Nobody stutters, stammers, awkwardly pauses, or has a vowel movement. The most perfect clever statements come out immediately. Generally, this is easy to forgive, as it gives this large cast of seasoned actors the chance to sink their teeth into some fun material. The first courtroom scene is like a sitcom or a farce, but it’s fun. The film doesn’t lull – I’ll give it that. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The American President, The Social Network, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Molly’s Game) seems to have called upon his television experience. He knew this would be a Netflix Original that people would likely be breaking up into installments, like a series, so he kept the energy up.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 tells the story of the seven men on trial for organizing and allegedly inciting the riots at the Democratic National Convention in 1968. Though the movie was filmed and released before the attack at the Capitol in January, it’s impossible not to think about that and the other ways in which this story mirrors our current climate. There’s a speech about what people will think of all this “50 years from now.” It probably was never actually said. It’s a bit self-aware, on-the-nose, but well-written and delivered by Eddie Redmayne, who does one of the most convincing American accents I’ve heard in the movies. Not once did I detect his native British creep in. There is one acting Oscar nomination here, for potential Best Supporting Actor Sacha Baron Cohen. This is such an ensemble piece, that just about anyone could be nominated and it would feel right, but Baron Cohen is as good a choice as any, as one of the most vocal of the Chicago 7. At age 48, he’s about 10 years too old to believably play a 32-year-old at the time, but the character is great and the sheer fearlessness we saw from him in Bruno and the Borat movies gets put to effective use here. Mark Rylance as their lawyer gets plenty of screen time to shine, with his multi-faceted character and hair that looks like Harvey Keitel’s Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has young, plucky earnestness as the other side’s counsel. Frank Langella finds all the appropriate notes as the incompetent and borderline evil judge you will love to hate. John Carroll Lynch, Caitlin FitzGerald, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Michael Keaton are a few more of the names who make an impression in this voluminous cast.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 would have made a good play, and may be more suited for the stage. It has a healthy amount of theatrical fluff, but it will keep you entertained. An oft-repeated chant throughout the film is “the whole world is watching.” These performers act like they know that, and so they ham it up.

Grade: B