Review: She Said

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Maria Schrader's "She Said" - based upon the 2017 articles written by New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (portrayed here by Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (played by Zoe Kazan) - doesn't deviate too far from the formula of many of the great journalism movies ("All the President's Men" or "Spotlight," for example) and there isn't much in the way of surprises since we all know how it ends; however, the film derives its power from the nature of its story and some strong performances, and somehow manages to be fairly suspenseful.

As the film opens, Twohey is in the process of writing a series of articles about sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump, who shortly after the story kicks in wins the presidency. She's unsettled by the fact that voters were presented with numerous complaints of Trump's inappropriate behavior with women but voted for him anyway.

Shortly afterward, Kantor stumbles upon a story from some Hollywood insiders that Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein has a long history of covering up his own sexual misdeeds through NDAs and payouts to keep his victims - who vary from assistants to movie stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, and Rose McGowan - quiet.

As Kantor and Twohey, who gets enlisted by another Times editor (Patricia Clarkson), dig around, they find that the level of sexual misconduct is much worse than they imagined regarding Weinstein and goes much deeper than just one man. Like politics and so many other lines of work in the United States, they discover that there are methods in place to protect powerful men from sexually harassing and even assaulting women in the workplace in Hollywood.

As I'd mentioned, there's not much in the way of invention in terms of how this story is portrayed - we get the typical scenes of diligent reporters working their sources until they finally break down and agree to take part in the story, scenes of editors going through the reporters' work and suggesting new leads, and the big confrontation with the subject of their investigation. 

On the one hand, you've probably seen a film very similar stylistically to "She Said" before. On the other, it's an example of a tried-and-true formula being done well. Plus, the story itself is powerful, and one that is still seeing a societal reckoning to this day. Mulligan gets the MVP of the film's leads, but there are some very strong supporting performances here as well - especially Jennifer Ehle and Samantha Morton as two women who were terrorized by Weinstein when they were younger women working for Miramax. Peter Friedman is also solid as Weinstein's slick lawyer.

At a time when powerful people - at least one specifically comes to mind - evade responsibility for their misdeeds and media coverage often feels like entertainment rather than the presentation of facts, a film like "She Said" is inspiring in its portrayal of journalists digging around in pursuit of the truth and holding influential people to account. The manner in which it portrays its story may feel overly familiar, but it's important that this film was made - and the result is a well-crafted, well-acted, and moving experience.