Nothing But the Truth (2008)

(Originally reviewed: 19/02/2017) Here is a political thriller that's plain and simple forgettable; despite some good performance from a well-able cast. The film starts off rather interesting, getting the story outlined and so forth with decent direction from Rod Lurie, but even then there was some poor dialogue which I think was just unfunny and unnecessary, this line was "Eggs give you cancer", says the little boy, Schwimmer replies "I'll finish your cancer", not only is this out of context but I surely don't like jokes about serious subjects such as cancer. Before I get to my major problems with the story, I have a few nit-picks, Beckinsale is merely trying to help Farmiga but she is consistently unlikeable at first, calling Beckinsale "an unpatriotic little c**t", almost in front of her son, which I found most unnecessary. Another is that the judge is unbelievably one sided which I have rarely seen in actual, strong thrillers and even courtroom dramas, surely the judge has to be somewhat fair and not favour one client unless there is a pay-off going on which was unsurprisingly not the case. Lurie's script is also completely subpar when it's not being stupid and dull.Another howler in the dialogue is when Farmiga tells another female CIA operative "you're so lucky you're a woman, because I don't hit girls", which is more pure idiocy which doesn't land whether it was intended to be funny or not. However there are some positives; I like some of the humour, including two instances; one where Beckinsale's character is told by a female prison officer that there is no sex aloud, this includes "eating Pussy", I found this fairly amusing, as I have never heard someone actually try and use that joke in this type of situation, the other instance was when Beckinsale is being interviewed and she's confronted about her source and she has a speech that involves "because the government doesn't care where Paris Hilton had dinner last night; which put her in her place on national television and was a well-timed, amusing line.There is a couple of smart lines of dialogue, such as one where a character is told he's making a mistake and he says " sometimes a mistake is invading Russia in the winter", but there's not much in terms of these kinds of lines which is a shame. The performances are respectable for the most part, but mainly from Kate Beckinsale (Rachael, the reporter), Alan Alda (Albert, her lawyer) and Angela Bassett Bonnie, Rachael's boss), but I still think Matt Dillion (Patton, prosecutor) and Vera Farmiga (Erica, CIA operative) are also pretty good. David Schwimmer (Rachael's husband) is merely passable and his character is a first class asshole, that doesn't even bother to patiently wait for his wife, and jumps into bed with another woman as soon as she's imprisoned. There was one point where I was thinking Rachael's time in prison is at least not a cliché but later on she does end up getting beaten up, which like most films with prison sequences is predictable and tiresome. My main problems with the story are two big points, 1) Erica end's up getting shot by a guy pretending to be lost who clearly has a gun in his left hand, now wouldn't a CIA operative have more intelligence and be more cautious when under scrutiny from possible treason? The film insults the intelligence of trained operative's and the audience with it.2) The ending; so the source she was protecting was an 8 year old girl? I highly doubt the government would take action from an 8 year old, let alone kill her, so many like myself will consider the ending a waste of their time; once the ending is revealed the film is completely useless and you leave disappointed and unsatisfied. I did however find the first half or so at least intriguing, but it soon devolves into a slow paced, boring film with a forgettable plot, mediocre writing and a sexist remark thrown in to get the feminists riled up; you should find this during the but if it was a man and not a woman speech towards the third act of the film. Nothing but the Truth even pulls the character back into jail before the end credit's so we can see how it was all a pointless affair, there's plenty of clichés on offer, and that's not the main problem; the fact is, this is a poor political thriller which is forgettable, uninspiring and takes Rachael 237 days to nearly get free from, lucky her, for me it felt even longer, this picture is a waste of time.

Nothing But The Truth is a thriller with certain elements of greatness, but one that can't quite be called a complete success. It lags and lingers in scenes that should be fired up, and it's pacing isn't always consistent. It's still a well told story that cares, impassioned about its subject matter an focused on getting you close with its protagonist, played excellently by Kate Beckinsale. She portrays Washington reporter Rachel Armstrong, who exposes a CIA agent (a nasty Vera Farmiga) regarding some shady activities in South America. She won't reveal her source though, even if it means her arrest and public ostracization which eventually it does. She's bullied, imprisoned and harried no end to reveal the source, yet she remains steadfast. Beckinsale is pure brilliance, careful not to reveal traces of her reasoning, yet skilled enough to ignite sympathy for her from us, and a kindly defense attorney (Alan Alda) as well. Her squirrelly husband (David Schwimmer) jumps ship and turns her own son against her. A detached, unsympathetic investigator (a laid back yet stern Matt Dillon) puts further pressure on her. And still.. she doesn't break. If it feels slow at times, press on, for there are scenes worth attention, hidden like easter eggs amongst the dull stuff. And the very last scene you will definitely want to see. Welcome supporting turns come from Jamey Sheridan, Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance and a flippant Noah Whyle. Beckinsale holds it together though, in one of her best turns.

I'm not generally one for the political thrillers but this was pretty good. I was engrossed enough to find myself frustrated by 'Rachel's' decisions and the story is definitely thought provoking, with Kate Beckinsale playing a principled investigative journalist in Washington DC who writes a story that outs a CIA operative and winds up going to jail for not revealing her source.There's an excellent cast attached here(Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, David Schwimmer, Matt Dillon, Noah Wyle, Vera Farmiga) all giving good performances and the ending provided a twist that totally surprised me and explained why she couldn't give up her source, because all along I'd been thinking; you're losing everything, your marriage, son, career and nobody cares anymore what for. Why don't you just give up the damn source? It's not worth all this. 03.18.14

Most – supposed – 'thrillers' tend to rely on high-octane stuff to try and keep their audiences on the edge of their seats. However, 'Nothing But the Truth' tends to shy away from this, choosing instead to just tell quite tense story – without anyone ever really being in much of a tense/life-threatening situation.It tells the (almost true) story of a journalist (Kate Beckinsale) who 'outs' a CIA operative in her newspaper. Naturally, the government isn't too happy about this and demands that she reveals her 'source.' She refuses and must suffer the consequences, or buckle.The other thing that's worth noting is that Kate Beckinsale probably gives her best performance to date. I've seen more than a few scathing comments online about how she 'can't act.' Hopefully, if people watch her in this, they may just choose to reconsider and see her as more than just a vampire-huntress in leather.Like I say, there's no real 'action' or thrills, i.e. people being stalked through creepy locations. However, it is pretty tense. You will care about the characters and what happens to them. Plus it isn't a short film. If you want to watch this, you'll need nearly two hours of talking/tension to sit through. But, if you're in the mood for that, you'll find yourself rewarded with a rae thriller of the type that Hollywood doesn't make many of these days.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/