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| James Franco as Christian Longo |
Tedious "True Story" has a few creepy moments
Some stories are so bizarre it's hard to believe when they're actually told, and the new crime drama "True Story," based on actual events, is one of those. The well-acted story is intriguing, but is immensely slow and muddled, lacking tension and momentum. When disgraced New York Times reporter Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) meets accused killer Christian Longo (James Franco) - who had briefly taken on Finkel's identity while he was on the run - his investigation morphs into an unforgettable game of cat-and-mouse and relentless pursuit of the truth. Directed by British TV director Rupert Goold in his feature film debut and written by David Kajganich, based on Finkel's account of the events, the true story in "True Story" had to be much memorable than this jumbled, tedious slog of a movie. Granted it's a suitably bizarre story, emanating a creepy vibe, and Franco in particular is good as charming convicted killer Longo, but it lacks an emotional core and energy to keep the audience's interest, not to mention it wastes a terrific actress in the recently Oscar-nominated Felicity Jones from "The Theory of Everything" as Finkel's wife. The Finkel-Longo jailhouse conversations, which are designed to be the backbone of the film, lack any real interest and it doesn't really explore Longo's motivations to commit crime, which are skimmed over in an unusual montage in the first act, with the final courtroom scene coming across simply as a plot contrivance, especially after a slow-as-molasses second act that tries to play detective but ends up muddling the plot even further. The real story behind "True Story" is far more interesting (Finkel and Longo, for some reason, continue to have weekly talks to this day, but you wouldn't get that based on their last conversation in the film) than this modestly creepy but boring account of it.
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