She Said

Grade: B-

It’s almost impossible to talk about She Said without mentioning All the President’s Men, which was about a pair of Washington Post reporters uncovering the Nixon Watergate scandal, or especially Spotlight, which was about Boston Globe reporters uncovering the child molestation scandal in the Catholic Church. Now we have She Said, about New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor breaking the story of Harvey Weinstein and his years of sexual misconduct towards women, particularly actresses. It gave women around the world the courage to come forward about such incidents in their lives, and helped spawn the #metoo movement. The Weinstein brothers were with Miramax. Remember Miramax? It was THE movie production company in the 90s. Some of the coolest films of that decade came from them. My, how the mighty have fallen.

I saw Spotlight on the Saturday evening before Thanksgiving week, in 2015. It’s no accident that I chose to see She Said on a Saturday evening, right before Thanksgiving week. There’s an interesting thing going on with movies like this. I always wonder if these reporters’ interest in breaking the story is professional or personal. It’s likely a combination of both – but which is dominant? Do they want to get the story out to help people and raise awareness, or are they more interested in the fame and clout that comes from being the first ones to break the news? It was Don Henley who said they love dirty laundry.

She Said ends with a handful of NYT employees huddled around a computer, doing one last proofread before the moment of truth where someone clicks “publish” and the article goes live. If that kind of climax excites you, then this is the type of movie for you. Two superb leading performances carry the film. Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman, Mudbound, Inside Llewyn Davis), I think, will stand the test of time and be among the next wave of Glenns and Meryls. However, my favorite was Zoe Kazan – Elia Kazan’s granddaughter. I know her from the Netflix miniseries Clickbait. Here, she is plucky and chirpy and funny and serious and touches on many notes. Both actresses are wonderful, and an award nomination for either of them would feel right.

The detriment to movies like Spotlight, Bombshell, and She Said is that they can be quite mundane and talky – too similar to real life. We tend to prefer something elevated and fantastical in our films of choice. And as well-done as they might be, they aren’t about the most cheerful of topics. Ultimately, it would have been ideal if a movie like this never had to be made.

Grade: B-