True Story

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source: True Story

'TRUE STORY': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five) A dramatic crime-thriller, starring Jonah Hill and James Franco! It definitely takes a little while to get used to. The story revolves around a reporter investigating a man accused of murdering his wife and children, in Oregon, for a book he's writing. It's based on the memoir of Michael Finkel, the reporter that Hill plays in the film; while Franco plays the accused killer. The movie was directed by Rupert Goold and scripted by David Kajganich and Goold. It's a bit of a mess, but it's still worth watching and interesting enough (in some ways). Michael Finkel (Hill) was a rising successful reporter, working for the New York Times, until his employers discovered he falsified information in one of his stories; he was terminated because of it. He later learned that a man, named Christian Longo (Franco), was using his name to hide out under, in Mexico, until he was arrested for murdering his wife and children. He was fascinated by this and decided to meet Longo, while he was being held in a prison, in Oregon. Upon meeting Finkel, Longo told the reporter that he'd tell him his side of the story, if he taught him how to write; and kept everything he told him a secret. Finkel agreed to the arrangement, because he saw it as a big opportunity to get his career back on track. He quickly learned that Longo, and his stories, were not as they first appeared. At first I definitely didn't buy Hill, in the dramatic leading man role; but I couldn't decide if it was me not giving him enough of a chance, or Hill not being the right actor for the part. I also didn't think much of Franco's acting, in this movie, at first either. Then seeing the two of them, on screen together, made the movie seem even less realistic. After some time, a lot of it, I finally found their characters believable, and I became fully intrigued in the movie as well. By this time the movie was almost over though; it does come to a pretty satisfying and entertaining conclusion at least. I think it's nice to see Hill and Franco doing diversifying work, and I think they're both good in this movie, but they're a lot better in other films (especially their comedic work; that's what they're both best at). As for the movie itself, the script could have used some more rewrites and the directing isn't that impressive either; the director and co-writer are both pretty inexperienced though (so it's somewhat understandable). Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/kdQGbNrUAnk

Boring, Boring screenplay movie. Only thing to keep it alive were the performances. But after, I would love to have had my time back. I did not know the story of this killer, so did not know how it ended - so I hung out waiting. What a let down. The best (or you could say the worst) part of the movie is that as in most true stories they give you an update of the people. An audible "What?" (like a gasp) was heard in the audience from a woman when the statement appeared that the two main characters still speak the first Sunday of every month. The whole audience laughed and it was truly the most enjoyable part of the movie. But also the sickest! The man is sitting on death row. Why he has not been offed, I don't know. And why the writer would still want to visit/talk to the guy is kind of twisted. Also, I must add that I observed a few people (including the people next to me) leave before the half-way mark.

I worked 60 hours in 4 days figured on a Friday why not go see a day movie...so looked on flixster didn't see anything good but I like Jonah Hill & Franco so sure the preview looked good. Yeah the preview was better than the movie...I mean huh? What just happened? I have never walked out or fallen asleep in a movie and I couldn't figure out what to do. So I tortured myself and watched the rest. And I can't figure out what happened. Sure based on true events. But maybe I should have looked up the true events first then I would have realized how awful that movie was. Maybe the worst movie I've ever seen. Ever. Please wait for it come on Netflix then don't even watch it then

In 2002, two seemingly unrelated events brought Christian Longo (Jonah Hill) and Michael Finkel (James Franco) into each other's lives. While Finkel was getting fired from a writing gig at the New York Times for fabricating details about a cover story, Longo had murdered his family and fled the country. When Longo was finally apprehended, he gave the authorities Finkel's name as his own. Based on Finkel's memoir, True Story unpacks the bizarre details surrounding Finkel's and Longo's relationship and offers a contemporary version of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. The terse chemistry between Finkel and Longo is gripping to watch—it's never quite clear who is using whom until the film's final moments. These two actors deftly play out their characters' battle for psychological dominance—Hill makes us feel Finkel's inner turmoil, and Franco's cool detachment is both alienating and alluring. Some praises also need to be sung about Felicity Jones, who plays Finkel's quietly badass fiancée Jill. The scene in which she slices through the character insulation that Longo has built up around himself is a beautiful show of pure indignation. –Alex Springer

It's hard for me to find this movie interesting. I didn't really get it. But yes, the opening seemed so promising. Not to mention the character of Christian Longo himself. He's some kind of crazy person or even a psycho, perhaps? He's so unpredictable. Looks stupid but turned out to be smart and so deceiving. This was actually so good, but I couldn't stop thinking that there was something missing. Why Longo chooses to use Finkle's identity was not so well explained. Maybe the dialogue which was not so strong. To me, the story was just not so well explored. This movie is based on a memoir of Michael Finkel. I usually love movies based on true story, but not this one.Sorry. I don't know. It's just not easy to grasp. I need to consult Wikipedia to fill the holes in my head.

I guess they were leaving it up to the audience on whether or not James Franco's Chris killed his family or not, for those who knew nothing of the case or read the book because…they failed to really focus on the grisly murdered family. I wondered that as I watched this interesting, but never elevated back-and-forth, accused and writer relationship. Johan Hill did fine as Mike, but just as he said in the movie: there's enough here for an entire book – not just an article, I felt that this movie was basically an article on the events and not the whole story. Mercifully, the strange, but severely underdeveloped relationship between the men, kept me intrigued. And while I can see where the focus was from the screenplay writer and director, it's sad that the brutal murders of three innocent children and their mother seem completely incidental and almost meaningless. Had his movie been more fleshed out and gave more to all angles vs. just a weird bond, I might have liked it more. Instead we get a 99 minute, couple of chapters of a grander and more interesting, albeit depressing story.

Sadly, there is not much to say about True Story. It's a crime/mystery 'thriller' (labeling this a thriller is questionable) that plays out just as you would expect. There were far too few surprises to speak of, which the movie seemed to be moving toward. Everything here felt like 'the calm before the storm' but when it came time for the storm, there was nothing there. The story in itself is quite interesting, a murder taking on the identity of a writer which leads to the two interacting and trying to determine the motive behind such a weird act. But nothing ever comes of it, at least nothing interesting or thought provoking. True Story is a straightforward crime drama that finishes as a courtroom drama. The acting was decent enough, a strong cast, but the camera work tries to force the creepy persona of James Franco down our throats with a ton of close of shots of his face. It was difficult to see a monster, he may look scruffy but down under there was no beast to be found here. The character of Longo was never creepy enough to carry the movie (Hopkins had 13 minutes of screen time in Silence of the Lambs and created a truly frightening monster). So while the trailer might look appealing, just now that it's quite deceptive (just like the main theme of the movie). Like I said, everything found here was too calm for its own good, there was no huge reveal or anything like that to make this movie interesting. Certainly a forgettable movie within Franco and Hill's growing filmographies.

if you'd asked me to rate this half way through, i'd say it was at least 8 or 9, everything was well done, a well made film that had you guessing and the cast was great... but then you realise there was no clever ending, no twist, no moment where all the pieces come together... unfortunately, at the title suggests, this is a true story, and the reality is there is no real story to tell. really disappointing, missed opportunity in my opinion as the cast was perfect, the tension was built up, the filming was so well done... for nothing. True stories... are often boring, people argue that 'that's what really happened'... that's fine but many things happen, every day, they just don't need multi million pound films made about them.