James Franco
“TRUE STORY” My rating: C+
100 minutes | MPAA rating: R
Every big-city newspaper has a reporter like Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill). A hotshot writer with an unlimited expense account, Finkel keeps his own schedule, visiting the office only a few times each year to smile condescendingly at his envious colleagues and bathe in their bitter admiration.
Early in writer/director Rupert Goold’s “True Story,” Finkel pays one such rare visit to the newsroom of The New York Times, which has just published his latest Sunday magazine cover story, this one about contemporary slavery in Africa.
Except that this time around Finkel doesn’t have his facts straight. He apparently has combined several individuals into one semi-fictional character (moreover, in the opening scene we saw him pay a source for information…a no-no in the world of legit journalism).
Suddenly this perfect master of newsprint is out on his keister. Plus, once word of the scandal gets out, no other paper will hire him.
“True Story” is based on what happened to the real-life Michael Finkel in the wake of his firing. He learned that Christian Longo, an Oregon man facing charges of having murdered his wife and three young children, had stolen Finkel’s identity in order to survive on the run.
Having spent way too much time in disgrace, Finkel decides to visit Longo (James Franco) in his jail cell. Hey, Finkel needs a fan, even if the guy’s a multiple murderer.
He encounters a hooded-eyed sociopath who can seem friendly and perfectly rational, but who refuses to address his own guilt or innocence. The desperate Finkel, smelling a best-selling book, cultivates Longo, even coaching him in wordsmithing once the accused man reveals that he’s always wanted to be a writer.
But who’s playing whom?
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