Nothing But the Truth

Government conspiracies and corporate shinanegans always make for good movies. Remember Barbarians at the Gate or Thank You For Smoking?

Nothing But the Truth sort of fits that vein. The movie stars the lovely Kate Beckinsale as Rachel Armstrong, a reporter for the local D.C. newspaper who has just exposed a C.I.A. agent who recommended that the United States not invade Venezuela after an assassination attempt on the President, but the agent is the wife of a writer critical of the White House Administration. Does this all sound familiar? It should. There's a strong similarity between this movie and the Valerie Plame / Scooter Libby / Bob Novak incident during the Bush 41 Administration.

Armstrong knows that the government will probably come down hard on her, but she has no idea of the intensity of their persuit. A rocky relationship with her husband and an unfettered obligation to conceal the truth behind her source drives her to unimaginable emotional and physical pain. Additionally, her Pulitzer Prize nominated article not only exposes the government for its shinanigans, but may unintentionally ruin the lives of many involved.

Federal prosecutor Patton Dubois (Matt Dillon) goes after Armstrong and will not back down until she exposes the leak that gave her the information. Armstrong refuses to back down.

This drama had me furious and hating the federal prosecutor, getting pissed off at Armstrong's arrogant attorney Alan Burnside (Alan Alda), and sympathetic to the pain and betrayal felt by the CIA agent, Erica Van Doran (Vera Farmiga). Furthermore, throughout the movie and into the night and again this morning I kept running through the story in my mind trying to see if I could resolve the dilemna before I could remind myself that this was just a movie.

Nothing But the Truth was directed by Rod Lurie who also brought us the infuriating movie with Robert Redford, The Last Castle. Nothing But the Truth is an hour and 40 minutes long and is rated R for language, violence, and sexuality.

(--Slight Spoiler Alert--)
I was not able to figure out the movie, which means it is a good movie in my book. The answer is provided to the viewers, but not to the characters, and in retrospect, you probably could have found it.

(--End of Slight Spoiler Alert--)

I enjoyed this movie and it kept my attention throughout. I attached emotions to all of the characters, including the seemingly primodonna Rachel Armstrong. I thought the actors did a fine job with their portrayals and it made this a great movie. On an interesting side-note, I read that this movie had very limited release in the theaters before it was released onto DVD because it ran into financial trouble, probably because of the economy. Another victim of the recession, though Nothing But the Truth did not get a bailout.

I give this movie 4 stars. I would definitely watch it again.