Better than The Post but not as good as Spotlight, Maria Schrader’s She Said tells one of the most important stories of this century, one that helped ignite MeToo. This movement dismantled 30+ years of silence around the subject of sexual assault in the movie/television industry. I wanted to like this movie more than I did. Unfortunately, because there is so much recency with this story and its fallout, it limited opportunities to learn something new. That’s not this film’s fault, but it was something that I carried with me as the story unfolded. Films about newspapers breaking stories may have lost their place in today’s environment. There is so much information that anyone interested in learning about a particular case can research online before a story is developed into film, television, etc. Unfortunately, social media has not helped the newspaper or television reporting industry. However, films such as The Post, Spotlight, or She Said can help us separate fact from fiction when we are inundated with information overload.
The plot of She Said revolves around the October 2017 New York Times story that exposed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator who had used his power and influence to lure actresses, female production assistants, temps, and others into unwanted situations for three decades, which resulted in more than 80 different cases of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or both. Accounts of Weinstein’s actions had been rumored for years, but accusations were often covered up by studios Miramax or The Harvey Weinstein Company with hush money payments. Reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman, An Education) and Jodi Kantor (The Big Sick, The Kindness of Strangers) were the tenacious reporters who flushed out the case, using patience, kindness, and empathy to help the abused women and other witnesses to come forth, on the record, with their stories.
Gone are the days of Network, The Insider, All the President’s Men, and Spotlight. While Spotlight was a great movie worthy of its Oscar for Best Picture, its 2015 release was before the advent of TikTok (2016), before Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280 (2017), and when Snapchat was used by just 86 million people (compared to 293 in 2021). The big one is TikTok, though. This is the app that, more than any other, has made regular people into celebrities. I assume many offer their hot takes on politics, crime, law, injustices, and other serious discussion topics. I follow mostly movie reviewers, sports trivia producers, and those who find humor in everyday situations. The app has an excellent algorithm for offering suggestions of things each person might enjoy based on what they already follow. Long story short, there are content creators all over TikTok (and other social media apps), and I’m sure some use their influence to offer untruths in their attempts to sway their audiences. This is why accurate news reporting is more vital than ever and why verifying sources and performing due diligence is, and always will be, far superior to just being the one to report something first.
In a movie that felt particularly weak with its characters, Mulligan, in particular, didn’t stand out as Twohey. Someone could have played this character with far fewer credentials than Mulligan, who, coming off her Oscar nomination in Promising Young Woman, would have had her pick of the litter with her next project. And I won’t say she picked a lousy script because she didn’t. This movie could have been highly personal to her, or maybe, when offered the role, it was too important of a film to decline. However, Mulligan (at the time of this 2022 post) is a top-five actress. I would have loved to have seen her in a more challenging role that would have allowed her to continue to expand on the rich characters she created in films such as Promising Young Woman, Suffragette, Shame, An Education, Inside Llewyn Davis, Mudbound, Wildlife, Drive, or Brothers.
Plot 9/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 6/10
Acting 6/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 7.5/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
75.5%
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