Shattered Glass

USA 2003, 89 minutes
Dir. Billy Ray
Rating: [M]
Genres: Drama / Youth

Topics: Media.

Feat. Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria

Aroview: Compelling character-driven drama, based around the true story of 'New Republic' journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen), who was brought into disgrace for his fraudulent articles in the 1990s.

Glass rose as a hotshot reporter, filing colourful right-wing articles to his editor, but when a rival publication begin to smell a rat, they sent in professional fact-checker (Zahn) who gradually uncovered various 'liberties' with the truth. Capturing the peculiar egotism and moral mendacity of the Clinton era, this credits its charismatic young cast with enough snappy dialogue to carry over occasional lapses into melodrama.