Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, 2005) [7]
I was impressed enough with George Clooney’s direction, and thoroughly impressed with David Strathairn’s hard-bitten performance as Edward R. Murrow, but there wasn’t anything else in particular that overly impressed me with this film. The black-and-white cinematography is solid, with its fluidity in moving through the hustle and bustle of a newsroom and capturing the swirling cigarette smoke, which always looks cool in black and white. Clooney does a good job of laying out the situation for us, and Strathairn is great in his economy of action and expression. I just feel that there is some element in the story that is lacking that would make this a great film. I feel like there isn’t enough conflict and/or tension in the story between Murrow and McCarthy. Maybe it’s the fact that McCarthy only appears in archival footage, but it seems he and the actions of his heinous committee are too detached from the film. That’s a shame because I think this was one element away from being a really great film.