Clooney's Politics Get Left Behind

With admirable intent but mixed results, George Clooney's second directorial effort tackles a semi-forgotten episode in American journalism. A straight-ahead docudrama, it filters the upheavals of Senator Joe McCarthy's 1953-1954 Army hearings through the incisive reporting of CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow and his eventual on-air confrontation with the senator. Good Night hopes to throw light upon the failings of today's supine, frivolous TV press.

So the fest's opener offered audiences the promise of direct political relevance in addition to the usual expectation of artistic accomplishment. For American features with mainstream prospects, that's always been a rare combination.

It's sad to say then that, for all its well-crafted, evocative touches, there's a certain myopia and cozy self-congratulation lying beneath Clooney's otherwise sterling re-creation of the events. Robert Elswit's elegant black and white cinematography captures the smoky men's club feel of the network newsroom and meshes seamlessly with judicious use of vintage McCarthy footage (thus obviating the need to cast that role). And David Strathairn's Murrow, embodying quiet intelligence and indignation, strikes an easy rapport with Clooney, playing Murrow's producer.

But thanks to its framing device that preaches to the audience, and its narrow focus on newsroom happenings, the movie develops into a tiresome civics lesson. Only a single scene near the end, for example, makes a sustained attempt to dramatize the systemic issue of how real journalism often takes a back seat to financial imperatives. That outstanding scene-engaging and complex, a vision of what could have been-is one of the few times Clooney integrates his political points into his art.