TMG Scale 1.0
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Hutton, Ewan McGregor
Many of the aging, newspaper film critics loved this film. That should pretty much tell you right there. TMG and real movie fans will just that it just sucked. No one has made a good film about a print journalist since All the President’s Men (1976) and Absense of Malice (1981). Citizen Kane (1941) this film was not. This film just was slow, boring and tedious. This film might be a replacement for water-boarding international criminals. They would be screaming ” enough” “no mas” or “mercy” quicker than Director Roman Polanski can hook up with a 13 year old girl.
To help those who may have suffered a public school education in Detroit, LA or Kansas City, Missouri, a “ghost writer” is an unnamed writer who crafts an article or a book (often an autobiography) for someone else. Some rich and famous people (read: lazy people who also suffered a bad public school education) but frequently politicians, simply hire an established writer. They interview them and then craft a piece for the subject to just sign off on. It’s efficient and often makes the subject appear more eloquent and interesting than they really are.
Making a movie about a ghost writer is a whole other matter. You need intrigue and a great subplot. This film had neither. The usual challenge for a major world figure working with a ghost writer, is that more of the subject’s life is uncovered than the subject ever intends. But you invite a naturally inquisitive writer into your tent, they are going to sneak a peak under the covers.
Back to the film, if I must. The first ghostwriter to write the memoirs of British prime minister, Adam Lang (played by Brosnan), washes up dead on a beach. At least someone in this film made the right choice. Nothing happens from there until some chases and a shooting in the last ten minutes. The audience is already asleep or too busy texting their friends to meet for drinks to really care. This film just gives Polanski a whole new reason to hide out, as apparently having sex with a 13 year old girl was not reason enough.
Skip this film. Feel fortunate you follow TMG and know we understand movie fans and don”t hang in the same circles of the aging movie critics for newspapers. They likely found this film great in the way a surgeon likes to watch films on lower bowel surgery. Trust me. You will not share the intrigue.