True Story

Starring: Jonah Hill, James Franco, and Felicity Jones
Directed by: Rupert Goold
Screenplay by: Rupert Goold
Based on true events

    A serious movie with Jonah Hill and James Franco?  Really?????  Yes really.
    Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) is a reporter for the New York Times.  Or at least he was.  In a claim that he forged some of his reporting on an important story, he loses his job and becomes disgraced by the journalism community.  He goes to a cabin in Montana with his girlfriend Jill (Felicity Jones) and makes countless phone calls trying to find work, but of course, nobody trusts him anymore.    Meanwhile, there's another guy, Christian Longo (James Franco), accused of killing his wife and children, going around using Mike Finkel's identity.  When the real Mike Finkel finds out about this through another reporter, he simply has to find out why he's doing this.
     After being found and arrested while hiding in Mexico, Longo is in prison awaiting his trial for the murders he's accused of committing.  Finkel goes to meet with him to find more about what he's doing using a false identity.  This might just be the story that get's people to respect and legitimize Finkel again.  It might even be the story of his career.  Where will it lead him?
     The story is pretty clear here.  On one hand, it's a murder mystery, even though we know who allegedly did the murder, but on the other hand, it's an identity crisis story.  This is a story that really bounces between these two characters.  Finkel and Longo are well rounded characters while Jill is not characterized very much, nor does she have much screen time.
     You might know Jonah Hill and James Franco for their comedic work.  You might know Jonah Hill and James Franco from one of their comedic films like This is the End.  You probably know them as some of the funnies actors in Hollywood right now.  But unless you've seen any of their other work, you might not know them as well for their serious roles.  True Story is no doubt a serious movie.  There may be a laugh here and there, but this is absolutely a drama about a serious subject.  Both actors give extremely good performances, especially Franco.  I find James Franco to be a better actor because he can transition between the comedic and dramatic roles better than Jonah Hill can, but Jonah Hill is not far behind.  For example, in a film like The Wolf of Wall Street, Jonah Hill plays a serious role throughout much of the film, but has many comedic scenes.  True Story shows that both of them can play very serious roles just as well as they can play comedic roles.  Something great about this film is that you can forget that these are two of the funniest people in Hollywood at the moment.
     This is some of the finest work I've seen so far in 2015.  It is always a pleasure to watch actors who play roles that are not in their comfort genres.  Jonah Hill and James Franco are truly dynamic film actors and True Story perfectly demonstrates this.  The content of the film is quite disturbing at times, especially toward the end in the courtroom scenes.  There is a little too much detail about the crime committed, creating for a very gruesome picture in audience's heads.  This film is definitely one of the better movies so far this year.
      I give True Story an A-.