Me Too, film review by Maria Schrader

Before Me too, American cinema has for decades accustomed us to watching films that stage the mechanics of investigative journalism. The most valid examples of this sub-genre are noble titles such as All the president’s men from Alan J. Pakula, Zodiacs from David Fincher And The Spotlight case from Tom McCarthywinner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2015.

Me too, it all starts with Harvey Weinstein

Focused on the investigation that the journalists of New York Times Jodi Kantor And Megan Twohey brought forward regarding the sexual abuse perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein, She Said undoubtedly belongs to this category, but in an equally evident way the combination with the titles mentioned above ends here. Directed by Maria Schrader, the film lacks the elements that made these feature films of the past memorable, first of all the balance between the need for entertainment and the search for truthfulness in exposing the story.

Me too in fact he tries with many, perhaps too many tricks, to capture the spectator’s empathy, slipping against his will into melodrama when a ‘drier’ staging would probably have worked better for the purpose. The first ten, fifteen minutes of the film are unfortunately the weakest part of the operation, the one that on balance sets the tone of the same: in particular an invasive use of music intended to underline the tension that the two protagonists encounter is strongly counterproductive, coming to create a sense of confusion both in the tone chosen for the story and in the genre, as the past seems perhaps more suited to the thriller.

What that Me too it just isn’t, nor does it want to be. Once you get over an unbalanced beginning, the film objectively improves, settling on a screenplay that is fairly structured although not free from a certain approximation in the delineation of the characters. In fact, to make Kantor and Twohey more two-dimensional, small family pictures are added to the story which however do not really succeed, adding to the main story subplots that weigh down a narrative which should have lasted less than the almost two hours and a quarter final.

In the same way the two main figures in more than one scene fail to escape from the trap of the stereotype: if in fact the character played by Zoe Kazan always remains the kind and novice journalist, that of Carey Mulligan instead he possesses the charm and toughness of the experienced reporter. At least in a couple of cases the two figures become characterization rather than sharply delineated personalities, and this damages their credibility: why, for example, does Twohey constantly have to burst into tears every time she receives good news?

An unnecessary underlining that continues to uselessly drag the tone towards the melodramatic. Figures that certainly do not help Kazan and Mulligan to express the best of their qualities as actresses, but if the latter is still effective by virtue of her always charismatic stage presence, Kazan fails to endow her role with depth, I learn on more than one occasion a chick out of water. In side roles also consumed actors like Patricia Clarkson And Andre Braugher they don’t shine.

I too deserved more lucidity

Thinking about the subject matter and its importance Me too it should have been a film built and made with much greater lucidity, above all through well-defined directing choices. And this necessarily brings us back to the work of Schrader, a filmmaker who always ostentatiously tends towards the search for empathy through music, flashbacks and not particularly requested dramatic moments. And at least one sequence, the one in which Harvey Weinstein shows up at the headquarters of the New York Times with his entourage to defend himself against the accusations, should have been eliminated since he then makes no real contribution to the narrative progression.

Me too fails in the task of providing the viewer with a precise and lucid look at one of the journalistic investigations – not to be confused with that of Ronan Farrow – which led to an end to Weinstein’s criminal abuse. The importance of telling the facts remains unchanged and vital. As for how the story was brought to the big screen, doubts about such a fragile product seem more than legitimate.