Review of Trumbo (2007) by John K — 25 Nov 2015

It's a perfectly fine bio pic on a very fascinating guy that I didn't know much about except that famous shot of Trumbo in his bath with a desk on top with a typewriter. Cranston is great as Dalton Trumbo even if he can get a bit hammy at times but Trumbo seems like that kind of guy.

The whole ensemble is filled with great performances including Diane Lane (she deserves more leading roles Hollywood!), John Goodman, Alan Tudyk, and Michael Stuhlbarg but the stand out here is Helen Mirren who delivers a really fun and catty performance as Hedda Hopper that deserves a spin off bio pic on her own right.

I agree with some of the criticisms going around about how the supporting cast doesn't really fall into hammy impersonations of some over the top people like John Wayne and go more natural in performance while Cranston is hamming it up so that is a fair criticism.

I also felt Louis C.K. kind of was just playing himself in this and not making much of an effort to play a character but he does own some great dramatic moments with Cranston. Elle Fanning felt a miscast as Trumbo's daughter later in life when the younger version of her character had lots of spunk and Fanning was just kind of flat.

I also really liked Dean O'Gorman as Kirk Douglas and Christian Berkel as Otto Preminger. Roger Bart is always a delight to see in any project he is involved with but here he is given more to do than most roles of late and this proves he deserves bigger parts just like Lane.

The script can get a little corny at times winking at the audience several times building up suspense of a movie they are discussing on making and then make a grand show out of the title to have the audience go "ah ha!".

But there are some great moments of writing even if sometimes they can be repetitive in Trumbo's poetic dialogue with family and friends. Great costumes, hair, and production design and a lot of fun easter eggs for any movie lover like myself but for more snobbish movie fans, they'll probably fidget through this movie like they did with 2012's Hitchcock which this kind of reminds me of.

But if you sit back and let the movie take you on a ride through a dark time in movie history, you'll enjoy it for what it is.