With "Good Night, and Good Luck" it is now safe to say that George Clooney will be with us for a long time to come. And that is certainly good news on all fronts.
Despite his chiselled looks and unfakeable cool, Clooney has always seemed more of a regular guy than one would expect. Unlike his cinematic running mate Brad Pitt, Clooney has the air of a man who would be very content to throw back a few beers with a crowd of guys in a bar. And I like Brad Pitt as an actor and, from appearances, as a personality. But there is something unhealthy about being pals with a guy that good looking. What must it feel like to walk into a room and know that you do not have a chance of ever topping this guy in the battle for a woman's attentions. With Clooney, one senses he would make you feel so comfortable about yourself that you might think for a moment that the leggy brunette at the bar is looking at you and not him.
You would be wrong.
Perhaps it's because he started in television. The small screen brings with it a familiarity that cinema does not. It certainly isn't a coincidence that the respectful distance which Hollywood stars were once granted by the public has vanished as more and more people see their movies on television. Having watched him week after week as Doug Ross on "ER", audiences developed a closeness with Clooney, seeing him grow in the part and beyond it, which makes us root for him, the way we did in the past with such actors as Michael J. Fox and Bruce Willis. The downside of this is that, despite their success, actors who start on TV are often unable to escape it's shadow. No matter how well his movies did, Fox never seemed like a movie star. As for Willis, while the body of work made it impossible to deny that he was indeed a movie star, it so often seemed that David Addison was simply playing with the big kids. "Pulp Fiction", of course, changed that.
As for Clooney, his successes as an actor, along with his emergence as a favorite of critics darlings like Soderburgh and the Coens, made it clear that he wasn't just another pretty face. But beauty fades, and for a guy who had a lot of failure on his way up, Clooney was quite aware of the likely best-before date on his time in the public eye. He started moving into producing and, with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", directing. With "Good Night, and Good Luck", George Clooney has arrived.
The story of Edward Murrow and CBS's battle against McCarthyism in the early 1950s, the film is anchored by the period details. Cigarettes are omnipresent, and a TV ad espouses the magnificent of the Kent brand, which associated itself with Murrow, joining their quality with his. Shot in black-and-white, with intermingling of new and archival footage, the result is seamless, almost as if the film itself is an on-the-scene documentary. In the lead, David Strathairn plays Murrow as if the burdens of the world are his alone to carry, and he is ably supported by a solid cast, inckuding Clooney, most notably by Frank Langella as CBS head William Paley and Ray Wise as doomed newscaster Don Hollenbeck.
The film isn't perfect. Despite the air of importance about the proceedings, it never feels personal enough to draw you in, unlike a film such as "The Front", which dealt with the blacklist. Rather, you watch from a distance, impressed by the players but seeing only jobs and reputations at risk, not the life-changing events that McCarthyism actually meant for many citizens. And the pace is at times glacially slow, which is sometimes attributable to the distancing created by that same archival footage that helps create the air of reality.
Regardless, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a solid film, one that engages the viewer and holds your attention with the strength of its performances. More importantly, it marks the moment when Clooney finally leaves behind any notion that he is just a television star playing at the movies. It's a mature and well-balanced work, subtly written (also by Clooney, with Grant Heslov) and directed with sensitivity and no small amount of visual flare. This was, apparently, a dream project for Clooney, and he has served it well. It makes a fitting entry into the big leagues, even if he'll always seem like a guy you can have a beer with.
Despite his chiselled looks and unfakeable cool, Clooney has always seemed more of a regular guy than one would expect. Unlike his cinematic running mate Brad Pitt, Clooney has the air of a man who would be very content to throw back a few beers with a crowd of guys in a bar. And I like Brad Pitt as an actor and, from appearances, as a personality. But there is something unhealthy about being pals with a guy that good looking. What must it feel like to walk into a room and know that you do not have a chance of ever topping this guy in the battle for a woman's attentions. With Clooney, one senses he would make you feel so comfortable about yourself that you might think for a moment that the leggy brunette at the bar is looking at you and not him.
You would be wrong.
Perhaps it's because he started in television. The small screen brings with it a familiarity that cinema does not. It certainly isn't a coincidence that the respectful distance which Hollywood stars were once granted by the public has vanished as more and more people see their movies on television. Having watched him week after week as Doug Ross on "ER", audiences developed a closeness with Clooney, seeing him grow in the part and beyond it, which makes us root for him, the way we did in the past with such actors as Michael J. Fox and Bruce Willis. The downside of this is that, despite their success, actors who start on TV are often unable to escape it's shadow. No matter how well his movies did, Fox never seemed like a movie star. As for Willis, while the body of work made it impossible to deny that he was indeed a movie star, it so often seemed that David Addison was simply playing with the big kids. "Pulp Fiction", of course, changed that.
As for Clooney, his successes as an actor, along with his emergence as a favorite of critics darlings like Soderburgh and the Coens, made it clear that he wasn't just another pretty face. But beauty fades, and for a guy who had a lot of failure on his way up, Clooney was quite aware of the likely best-before date on his time in the public eye. He started moving into producing and, with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", directing. With "Good Night, and Good Luck", George Clooney has arrived.
The story of Edward Murrow and CBS's battle against McCarthyism in the early 1950s, the film is anchored by the period details. Cigarettes are omnipresent, and a TV ad espouses the magnificent of the Kent brand, which associated itself with Murrow, joining their quality with his. Shot in black-and-white, with intermingling of new and archival footage, the result is seamless, almost as if the film itself is an on-the-scene documentary. In the lead, David Strathairn plays Murrow as if the burdens of the world are his alone to carry, and he is ably supported by a solid cast, inckuding Clooney, most notably by Frank Langella as CBS head William Paley and Ray Wise as doomed newscaster Don Hollenbeck.
The film isn't perfect. Despite the air of importance about the proceedings, it never feels personal enough to draw you in, unlike a film such as "The Front", which dealt with the blacklist. Rather, you watch from a distance, impressed by the players but seeing only jobs and reputations at risk, not the life-changing events that McCarthyism actually meant for many citizens. And the pace is at times glacially slow, which is sometimes attributable to the distancing created by that same archival footage that helps create the air of reality.
Regardless, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a solid film, one that engages the viewer and holds your attention with the strength of its performances. More importantly, it marks the moment when Clooney finally leaves behind any notion that he is just a television star playing at the movies. It's a mature and well-balanced work, subtly written (also by Clooney, with Grant Heslov) and directed with sensitivity and no small amount of visual flare. This was, apparently, a dream project for Clooney, and he has served it well. It makes a fitting entry into the big leagues, even if he'll always seem like a guy you can have a beer with.
posted by George @ 12:17 p.m.
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