Shattered Glass on DVD (2003)

Fancy something different ....

Kevin Scott from Herne Bay , 04/03/2005

Fed up and bored with the usual buildings exploding ,time bombs being disabled with seconds to go ,the bad guy coming back to life after having been stabbed , shot and fallen 100 feet from a building , maniacal car chases and so on then you might enjoy this film.

There is no sex , no violence and.... err ... no action.

But it is a very enjoyable film with an unusual and refreshing theme.

It is well acted throughout and I recommend it.

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All The President's Men In Reverse!

Michael Harby from Derbyshire , 21/11/2004

After reading all the reviews at the time of its cinematic release I was eager to see if the film lived up to all the hype.

The film tells the story of a journalist (Stephen Glass) for The New Republic magazine who is ambitious and dreams of maybe one day winning the Pulitzer Prize. Everyone at the office loves him and his colleagues look up to him.

At the pitch meetings, all the journalists put their ideas forward for their next possible article to the Editor. Stephen Glass gives his ideas as fresh, original, almost too good to be true. Everyone is amazed and wonder how they can follow it. When an article he writes about computer hackers goes live, an editor for an online technology magazine asks one of his journalists, why didn?t they get this before the New Statesman. The journalist in question then sets about investigating the article to check the facts that appear not to check out. What follows is Glass? decline when it comes to light that he made up most of his articles.

The first 20 minutes tends to drag somewhat, but once Glass begins to be investigated, that?s when the tension really sets in.

A great lead performance from Hayden Christensen as Glass making you love him one minute and then making you hate him the next. With wonderful support from Hank Azaria as Mike Kelly. And a great turn from Peter Sarsgaard as Charles Lane.

All in all a really good film that offers a good insight into the day to day affairs of a major publication.

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Standout Performance by Christensen

andzj from Norfolk , 27/09/2004

If all you know of Hayden Christensen is based on his performance in "Attack of the Clones", then prepare to be very pleasantly surprised by this film. It just goes to show how difficult it is for any actor to deliver a decent performance under George Lucas' plodding direction!

His depiction of journo Stephen Glass is simultaneously needy, endearing and ultimately creepy. It's a great performance in a thoughtful film that looks to greats from the 70s such as "All the President's Men" and "Network" for it's style and the millieu in which it is set.

Equally good is Peter Sarsgaard as the unpopular magazine editor who challenges the veracity of Glass' stories. His quietly moral family man serves as a counterpoint to Glass, with all his fake humbleness and crowdpleasing stories. If the film has a message, it's that the better person isn't always the easiest to like - something you won't get from many Hollywood movies this year!

On the evidence of "Shattered Glass" Christensen should have a strong acting career after "Episode III" released. I just hope he continues to pick material as challenging as this.

Highly recommended.

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Never Believe What You Read In The Papers

A customer from Dunstable , 15/11/2004

Although a little slow to get going, 'Shattered Glass' is an amazing true story of how the President's in-flight magazine was full of fictitious news stories (none of them WMD stories tho). It's only your cup of tea if you enjoy the 'true story' genre, don't expect SFX, car chases and explosions. I found it interesting.

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Lies, Lies & More Lies

A customer from Dundee , 13/02/2005

I'd never heard of this story before or the magazine but hey the yanks have never heard of anything outwith their own back doors either so no apologies there.

It's hard to believe that a magazine which claims to be so well read by America's elite and revered as a magazine of choice for the intellectuals could let the stories Glass was meant to have made up pass.

I found the story interesting bbut like many other comments thought it could have been a little more but for all that I found it enjoyable, more so knowing it was based on a true story.

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Interesting true story

Melon from East Sussex , 10/12/2004

This is an intelligent, low-key but gripping little film about a genuinely fascinating web of deception, snobby journalism and office politics. Christensen is good as the uber-geeky Glass but the best performance comes from Sarsgaard as the well-meaning editor getting bogged down by Glass' scheming and figuring out how far his lies go. It works through a straightforward approach, although doesn't really get beneath the main characters duplicitous skin.

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