Review of True Story (2015) by Ydnar4 — 11 Jul 2015

True Story is directed by first time director Rupert Goold and stars Jonah Hill and James Franco. The film is based on the true story of Christian Longo (Franco) and adapted from Michael Finkel’s memoir of the same name.

Longo, a perceived “regular guy” who is accused of the murder of his wife and three children. It is believed that Longo committed each of the murders and he fled to Mexico, but when he was found by police he used the identity of Michael Finkel (Hill) a recently fired writer for the New York Times.

When Finkel hears of this story he visits Longo in prison with the intension of getting his writing career back on track by writing an article on Longo. The performances from both the stars in this film are great and it is the scenes where Hill and Franco are the only two characters present that really shine.

It is now known that Jonah Hill can have a dramatic side after roles in Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street, both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Despite his ability I was questioning Hill’s ability to play a lead in a drama but after watching the film I think that Hill’s performance is the best in the film and I would like to see him take another lead in a drama film.

James Franco is also known to dabble in both comedy and drama and his performance as Christian Longo is strong. Franco looks prepared for the part from the outset and looks like a man who cannot be trusted but he really didn’t hit the performance out of the park like I had hoped.

Christian Longo is mysterious enough that if James Franco had given the role 100% effort I think it could’ve resulted in a Oscar nomination. Felicity Jones, is also in the film playing Michael Finkel’s wife Jill, but she is certainly underused.

Jones was following up a Oscar-nominated breakout performance in The Theory of Everything and she was recently cast as the lead in the first Star Wars Anthology film so this young actress looks like an up-and-comer but just didn’t get enough screen time to really shine.

The film really builds up tension well throughout the film but the ending occurs a little too sharply for my liking and really doesn’t have the huge climax that I was expecting. It seems like the film was limited to only 99 minutes of running time and could not be any longer.

I think another 10-15 minutes would’ve worked wonders for this movie. That being said the performances are what make this movie fresh and although its reach may exceed its grasp it is still a film worth watching for a crime movie fan.