Shattered Glass review

aelst's review

This sounded like a true story, about a journalist who fabricated a number of his articles. From watching the movie I learned that for certain prestigious magazines, they apparently abide by a code of ethics, where spelling, grammar, facts and sources are checked. The journalist in question is a bit slimy, and acts like a kid when cornered with truth. In the movie, the story he tripped up on is so unbelievable that he really deserved that one.

2 out of 5 stars. This movie made a bit angry but that's about it. I don't read magazines anyway.

ratbag's review

"Shattered Glass" is based on a true story of an up and rising young journalist, Stephen Glass. Stephen explains what he does at the beginning, and again at the end of the movie -- he is a clever, observant writer, and loves writing about people's fears and concerns. He essentially gives people what they want, and tells them what they want to hear, which is well and fine, except he is prepared to lie and fabricate stories to achieve that.

Hayden's portrayal of Stephen is convincingly annoying. His constant apologising ("Did I do something wrong? Are you angry with me?") and self-depreciation could be seen as a weak attempt at fishing for compliments. He is the office pet, and has managed to win the sympathy and protection of his female co-workers. But not everyone was fooled.

"Shattered Glass" presents to us how Stephen Glass managed to fool (almost) everyone with his fantastic stories, but doesn't quite give us a reason into why he did it, other than for attention, affection and approval from others.