Films about journalism get an unfair advantage because they are much easier to market.
You'll see commercials with great quotes from every critic in the country because, of course, journalists are going to love these movies, just like astronauts loved "Apollo 13." I mean, every astronaut I've talked to loves that movie.
Movies like "Almost Famous" and "The Paper" got great reviews, and now we have "Shattered Glass."
The movie is great. And it deserves great reviews, I think.
"Shattered Glass" stars Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars: Episode 1") as young reporter Stephen Glass. Glass writes for the New Republic, an intellectual magazine that is considered "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One."
Glass is on the rise - he's an editor at the Republic, freelancing with almost every magazine in America, and has decided to go to law school. He's witty and smart and wildly entertaining; and he's so good that you know something bad is hidden away.
Very quickly, the audience can deduce that he makes up his news stories. Glass invents sources and scenes when he needs them, making up everything from a drugged-out night at the Young Republicans convention to a survey of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky novelty sex products.
The movie widens to cover three characters as Glass takes one story too far: Glass tries to cover up his lies, editor Chuck Lane tries to figure out Glass and online reporter Adam Penenberg tries to let the whole world know about the sham at the New Republic.
As Penenberg (Steve Zahn) and Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) begin to expose Glass, we see Glass' world begin to crumble, and a much more complicated and tortured man shows up on the screen.
Sarsgaard deserves an Oscar nod for his turn as the much-maligned editor who tries to support his writer while knowing that he must face the facts. And Christensen, who was awful in the new "Star Wars" movies, shows that he can play a leading man when given a decent script.
Since the movie is about journalism and my unbiased opinion isn't available, I took two friends. This small cross-section of the population (one male, one female) really loved the film, too.
They loved it because it's not only about journalism. It's about faking your way to the top of your field.
And while journalism may be something I hope to do someday, everyone out there hopes they can fake their way to the top.