She Said

Maria Schrader's She Said is deadly dull Oscar bait. The film chronicles, in earnestly straightforward fashion, The New York Times' investigation into Harvey Weinstein's extensive sexual misconduct. Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan have a nice Mutt and Jeff appeal and Jennifer Ehle is outstanding in her four or five scenes, but, ultimately, it is to no avail. 

I think Ms. Schrader and her screenwriter, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, erred in eliminating Weinstein visually from the film. We hear him berate reporters and editors over the phone and we see the back of his head in a meeting, but to express horror visually one must give a glimpse of the monster. In contrast I prefer Abel Ferrara's underrated Welcome to New York, a similarly themed film based on Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest for sexual assault. Gerard Depardieu plays the Strauss-Kahn figure and, believe me, I saw more of Mr. Depardieu than I ever want to again, but I was left repulsed by his character's actions in the film.

What we are left with in She Said is a journalistic procedural with little characterization or drama. The climax of the film is Patricia Clarkson clicking "Publish" on a computer screen. The film wants to be All the President's Men, but ends up as an advertisement for The New York Times.