Veronica Guerin

Two and a half stars. Almost okay, but too flawed to make the grade.

The best way I can sum up this film is in cinematographical terms: it feels like a wide shot, when it should have been in close-up. The story of Veronica Guerin, an Irish crime reporter who was shot to death by the drugs dealers she exposed, is a powerful one. But despite it being a serious film, it didn't feel serious or weighty enough. It's a big studio production (Jerry Bruckheimer/Joel Schumacher), with all of the baggage that entails: a certain familiarity of mise-en-scene, a certain blandness of dialogue, a certain melodrama to the inevitable ending. Meh.