Review of Trumbo (2007) by Billy F — 24 Jun 2016

Trumbo has pretty much everything you'd expect from a biopic of a man who is 'great but not necessarily good.' We have the fame and success, the distrust, the disputes between friends and family, the downfall and, of course, the big heartfelt denouement speech.

As well as being predictable it also suffers from being overlong yet still rushed, and seems more concerned with telling the story rather than engaging the audience. It's worth seeing for Cranston's performance, it's often acidic wit and the points it makes about the vilification of individuals who just happened to support an unpopular movement, but were not necessarily dangerous.

The feeling that the central character has been sanitised to make the film more marketable, and avoid scaring off those who just want roses and happy endings, is confirmed by the evidence that Trumbo wasn't as golden as he's frequently portrayed, but it is very admirable to see a person having to abandon his principles to take care of his family and barely raising a word in protest.

Everyone has to do what they need to put food on the table, and while Trumbo succeeds in serving up the basic good, don't expect it to stick in your mind too long after you've finished watching it.