Good Night, and Good Luck.
The story of how Edward R. Murrow stood up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's reckless politicking of unsubstantiated rumors and largely made-up assertions about communists running amok in Hollywood, the media and the federal government is a testament to the power of journalism in the right hands. In that sense, Clooney's film makes a stinging, if unintentional, commentary on the sorry state of journalism today and the same McCarthy-like fear-mongering tactics it employs. Where it comes up short is providing the necessary historical perspective of the Cold War to understand just how McCarthy was able to take things so far in the first place. The script—co-written by Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov—excels largely by using Murrow's own eloquent, powerful prose from his program, See It Now. But the commitment to presenting the real man is fulfilled by David Strathairn, who embodies Murrow so deeply at times, he seems to be channeling him from beyond the grave. The performance guarantees Strathairn a long-overdue Oscar nomination, and very likely a win for Best Actor. And in case you're thinking that whoever plays McCarthy in the film should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, he can't be—that was McCarthy himself.