Review of Nothing But the Truth (2008) by Klei R — 06 May 2009

I'm not sure if I was supposed to like anyone in this movie, because I'm pretty sure I didn't. To be perfectly honest, I feel a little like taking a shower after it's over. The people in it aren't all despicable. As a matter of fact, most of them seem like they are good people to have on your side. They just all seem wholly implacable, which is a bad thing to be when you are up against someone just as rigid and on a collision course.

This movie is (very) loosely based on the Valerie Plame case, only it's more about the reporter than it is about Valerie Plame. She won't give up her source, and the DA (Matt Dillon) won't stop until he's got it. The only bad thing about that is that Dillon can put Kate Beckinsale in jail indefinitely until she talks, which she seems wholly unwilling to do. In the process, everyone involved with the case falls into some sort of untoward disrepair.

I'm not a big fan of Kate Beckinsale. I think she's attractive, but I've never seen her in anything I can ever remember. It's like she's just good enough to be famous, but not good enough to be known for her acting. This movie is no different. I thought Matt Dillon was very good as the prosecutor, and Alan Alda was pretty good, although for someone representing the main character, I was always pulling for him to lose (see, I couldn't root for anyone in this movie).

In the end, you eventually do find out who her source is. The only downside is that it happens entirely too late in the movie, and I think it was supposed to make me feel sympathetic for her, but I thought it made her look even slimier than she did throughout the rest of the move.

The movie was OK though. It's good for passing the time if you can't find anything better, and I guess it's the best pseudo-Valerie Plame movie I've seen, so there is that....