A film based on a true story about stories that aren't entirely true. Namely, the one told by disgraced journalist Mike Finkel (Jonah Hill) — fired by the New York Times after making a composite out of multiple abused Africans — and the one told by Christian Longo (James Franco) — tracked down and arrested for the muder of his wife and children. Longo was using Finkel's name when he was caught, and the writer's bruised vanity guarantees his fascination with Longo's seeming interest. As it happens, Longo has a story to tell — his own unhappy history — and he wants Finkel to help him tell it. Franco has a field day as a guy who enjoys obscuring his identity; his face, frequently shown in close-up, is forever hinting at unspeakably intimate and devastating revelations. But director Rubert Goold, aiming for an old-school psychological thriller, proves too subtle for his own good. We should suffer along with the unsteady Finkel as he gets drawn into Longo's world, but too often, his anxieties remain exclusively his own. (2015) — Matthew Lickona
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