The Paper
— Beyond 90 minutes, this journo movie is pressed for time.”
- Director: Ron Howard
- United States, 1994
As a screenwriter David Koepp has been around. He’s written some terrific scripts and some not so terrific. His work on The Paper, alongside brother Stephen, manages to reach both extremes.
Suddenly put in charge while chasing a big story, workaholic newspaper editor Michael Keaton is forced to choose between the job and his wife, whilst his colleague and adversary Glenn Close must choose between printing the truth and her professional envy dressed up as the economics of a late print run. All that drama, and it’s a comedy!
A terrific script and energetic acting bumps us through the first 90 minutes or so with only a few lingering issues, notably the woeful underuse and probable miscasting of the delectable Marisa Tomei. Then it all goes horribly wrong: the overwrought denouement is steeped in typically Howardian sentimentality and mediocrity creeps in to spoil the fun.
See also:
Shaun of the Dead
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Midnight Run
Novelty is always welcome and here’s a buddy cop road movie in which the protagonists hate each other! ...
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Borat
It’s sexy time: Sacha Baron Cohen’s bumbling reporter bursts onto the big screen. ...
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Blame it on the Bellboy
If there’s any proper comedy in this film, I must be Venetian blind. ...
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Beverly Hills Cop
The foul-mouthed and the feckless: remembering the good times with the buddy cop film of the 80s. ...
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Who you gonna call?
Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not the Princeton curator, the US senatorial candidate, the Kentuckian pastor or the journalist from Arizona. In fact, I work as a consultant in User Experience and Information Design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Ellezelloise Hercule.
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