"Read between the lies."

Shattered Glass (2003): 6/10

Poster (c) Lions Gate Films

Shattered Glass may be a very successful independent movie, not because of the plot or any clever marketing by Lions Gate, but for their simple casting choice of Hayden Christensen, best known as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 2. He’s a simple plan to draw in teen girls, and it’s working. I’ve heard many girls chattering about it in the hallways of my high school, yet none of them have seen it. I suppose that’s the way it should be: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. But I digress.

Shattered Glass, based on a true story, follows the life of Stephen Glass (Christensen), a young journalist for The New Republic magazine, which boasts itself as the only in-flight magazine for Air Force One. Glass is the youngest writer there, and he enjoys writing under Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria). However, soon Kelly is fired and one of Glass’s new stories, “Hack Heaven”, is being scrutinized for it being falsified, causing Glass to fall from grace. Peter Sarsgaard and a stocky Chloe Sevigny ensues.

I really don’t know what Lions Gate was trying to do. They try to attract a teen audience by getting Christensen in the lead role, but then they get indie king/queen Sarsgaard and Sevigny (who both starred together in Boys Don’t Cry) along with freshman director Billy Ray (who also wrote the screenplay, along with some for Hart’s War and Volcano). I think that the odd casting is one of the biggest liabilities. There’s always a distinctive feel between art-house and wide released, studio films. Although Lions Gate has released films wide, such as O and Frailty, there’s just a difference, and it’s a line that they’re unsuccessfully trying to cross.

I had heard nothing of the entire Stephen Glass story until I heard about the movie, and it somewhat intrigued me. After reading all of the glowing review, I have to think, “What were they thinking?” Although it is an intriguing story, it just isn’t executed that well. The story is true, but it was very hard to believe that if Glass could screw up so many times in his lies that people still believed him. And, although Christensen really seemed to know what he should do as Glass, he often overacted and came on with his emotions too early. Sarsgaard is terrific, as usual, playing his typical bad guy role. Sevigny, however, is nowhere near as good as she was in Boys Don’t Cry, and her role here is underdeveloped, as many are.

With such an interesting story as this, though, it would be impossible to make a bad film. The plot is intriguing, and Ray’s direction seems amateurish but stylish. He tries a variety of styles, which makes the movie just a little better. What really got me was how subliminally Ray showed how flawed and how Glass was battling his inner demons at the end of the film. He doesn’t really explore it in the film until one of the last scenes, but that’s what really made the picture work how it did with me. It’s not a great movie, nor is it that good, but Ray’s choice at the end is worth it.

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references and brief drug use.

Review Date: November 27, 2003