She Said, She Said

 

Remember the Oscar winning "Spotlight?"  That was the movie that told the story of how a Boston newspaper broke the story of pedophilia amongst priests in the Catholic church of that city.   Welp, "She Said" strives to be the same thing.  It tells the tale of how two female New York Times reporters managed to get women to publicly acknowledge sexual harassment from the groping hands of celebrated Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

And, much in the vein of "Spotlight," director Maria Schrader succeeds in telling the arduous tale of this investigation by two young reporters played by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan.  "She Said" is clearly not as polished as "Spotlight."   There are way too many talking head scenes and the film could have been more tightly edited.  Nevertheless, you are engrossed by the story and repulsed by the actions of this complete scumbag.  Most of the movie revolves around the Times reporters trying to get women to reluctantly go on the record.  So, naturally, it's very talky and sometimes a little draggy.  But, because of the renowned subject matter, it is still compelling.

Some other points of interest should be mentioned.  The always welcome Patricia Clarkson plays one of the newspaper editors.  She sports white hair which, if it were dyed brown, she would be a complete doppelganger and the logical person to play Nancy Pelosi in a biopic.  The resemblance is that striking.

There's another bone to chew over.   The movie opens with a 15 minute segment that addresses early allegations about sexual harassment charges against then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump.  It's offered as a prologue and really seems to meander in from another film.   It has virtually nothing to do with the same subject matter of "She Said," which really occurs two years later.

Len reasons that its inclusion was the filmmaker's way of balancing the scales.  Think about it.  Harvey Weinstein was a well known Democrat and good, good friends with the likes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  The director was obviously pressed to show that yes, Virginia, Republicans are sex deviants too.  I'm not disputing the fact.  It just seems obtrusive in this movie.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  A long plane ride back to LA.