Caught this on IFC last night. Aside from my surprise at Hayden Christensen, who, as Glass, comes off as a sociopathic weasel, this toothless offering by Billy Ray (Cyrus -- sorry, couldn't resist!) reveals more about The Fourth Estate than he realizes.
Contrary to Lane's blurb about all the "sh*t we're about to eat," only Glass suffers the consequences, while Lane finds a mea culpa awaiting his signature, and all is right again with the world! He should have been sacked, and the just-sacked Kelly shouldn't have been able to land a gig as a copy boy, much less, wind up at The Atlantic! Don't ask how the management of The New Republic got buffaloed by this juvenile delinquent: Ray accepts the class and political ideology of mainstream journalism when he should be probing its seamy underbelly, and he expects us to accept it, too!
Funny how none of the reviews noted the irony of Lane landing at The Washington Post, which had its own Stephen Glass moment 17 years earlier! Ben Bradlee will crow to anyone who sticks a microphone in his face how he brought down Richard Nixon, but mention "Janet Cooke," and he tap-dances like Fred Astaire! That this pompous ass is revered by the media and cultural elite when he should be a pariah for green-lighting a bogus series about an 8 year old black heroin addict tells you all you need to know about the sanctimonious hypocrites who run the The Fourth Estate!
Contrary to Lane's blurb about all the "sh*t we're about to eat," only Glass suffers the consequences, while Lane finds a mea culpa awaiting his signature, and all is right again with the world! He should have been sacked, and the just-sacked Kelly shouldn't have been able to land a gig as a copy boy, much less, wind up at The Atlantic! Don't ask how the management of The New Republic got buffaloed by this juvenile delinquent: Ray accepts the class and political ideology of mainstream journalism when he should be probing its seamy underbelly, and he expects us to accept it, too!
Funny how none of the reviews noted the irony of Lane landing at The Washington Post, which had its own Stephen Glass moment 17 years earlier! Ben Bradlee will crow to anyone who sticks a microphone in his face how he brought down Richard Nixon, but mention "Janet Cooke," and he tap-dances like Fred Astaire! That this pompous ass is revered by the media and cultural elite when he should be a pariah for green-lighting a bogus series about an 8 year old black heroin addict tells you all you need to know about the sanctimonious hypocrites who run the The Fourth Estate!