Most Movies Are Just Okay: "She Said" Sure Is Journalism Alright

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 I promise that I have nothing against "She Said" or its writer or director specifically. I just think most journalism flicks are quite boring! Spending 2+ hours watching a movie that is only about conveying its true story plot to an audience, with no compelling characters, thought provoking themes, or visual flair is not my idea of a good time. I even think "All The Presidents Men' is boring, overly bogged down in details and lacking enough energy to feel like a thriller. 

 "She Said" covers the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual harassments and assault. That's an important story to tell, and it's told in a way that feels accurate and responsible. The elephant in the room here is that if you're the kind of person with any interest at all in watching this, I'm almost certain that you already know the story here, and the script doesn't ever get around to adding a new dimension. There was potential to give this story more juice! Maybe you have more scenes of the two journalists interacting, the eager Zoe Kazan and the jaded Carey Mulligan running into some conflict. But the two barely interact and barely have character traits beyond those. Maybe you grapple with the concept of exposing Harvey Weinstein not fully resolving the systemic issues at play. The movie sure sets itself up like it's going in that direction. Mulligan gets an early speech wondering just how much impact her reporting really has. But we ultimately settle for simple and pleasant answers - one could easily argue too simple, given the state of the world since Weinstein's arrest. 

 What did I like? I'll give credit to how much of the film is shot on location throughout New York City. The trailers for this looked especially bland, especially uncinematic, and I think that's an unfair read of the final product. It took time and money and effort to shoot all over the city, and they put that work in for the sake of realism. Well done. Carey Mulligan can make "exhausted" look compelling on screen. She's a great actress, her role here is noticeably smaller than Kazan's which I thought was an odd choice, but she gives strength to a quiet, subtle character. I think I respect the choice to not show Harvey Weinstein as an on-screen character, although I'm not totally sure of it. That is a tough decision to make either way. The man they got to do his phone voice conveys his essence. But the lack of a visible villain does link back to how much the movie does not work as a thriller in any sense, and this specific movie doesn't absolutely need to work as a thriller, but maybe it would be more interesting to watch if it did? I have a sinking feeling that this will end up being a totally forgotten film as Oscar-bait that isn't *bad* but gets 0 Oscar nominations and exists in perpetuity in the Peacock backlog. 

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