Nothing But the Truth (2008)

Nothing But the Truth is the kind of story deserving to be told. It screams for attention, and Kate Beckinsale demands it as well as the lead. Beckinsale is excellent in this movie. I wish they casted her husband as well, because I got to say it's not very funny watching David Schwimmer ruining a ensemble cast performance like he does here. Beckinsale, Alda, Dillon, Farmiga, Bassett and Abrams all does so well, but Scwimmer is the weak link itching the acting.

Anyways. He's not the only problem this movie has. Ten years ago it was a different story. Back then 9/11 hadn't yet changed the world. Journalist could be heroes also in the public eye back then. Now it's not as easy to get the empathy from the public in life and also the audience for a movie. It doesn't mean this isn't a story worth telling. It just means it's not as easy to get the right feeling during the movie. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's the way it is.

This is the kind of story I wish to reward with a better rating, but I just can't. To tell the story correct, it's got to be built quite slowly and detailed, but that also give us a movie without the tension and nerve to engage us. I like that it doesn't add a lot of side stories trying to defend the time spent on telling the main story, because that's the mistake most would have done. It gives this movie a more credible story and I give them a lot of credit for it, but it also means the movie feels a little too slow and almost boring a while.

Adding to most of the acting, the story and their effort to not sidestep it too much, this movie also manages to create small moments of interactions adding depth to it in a way many movies never manages. The journalist and the spy, the husband and the lawyer, the spy and her bosses and so on and so forth. It adds layers much needed, and is the same layers that makes this movie come so close to an even better rating.

It's a well told and an interesting must tell story, from the wrong side of public opinion and heart. That might also be the reason it still engages, as it's not such an original story to begin with. Sometimes that's okey. In the end all we really want is a well told story, whether or not we've heard something very similar before.