Clint Eastwood directs his twenty-first film, set in Oakland, California, where he grew up and attended high school. In True Crime, he stars as crack reporter Steve Everett. The New York Times has axed Everett for his womanizing and boozing, but his friend, Alan Mann (James Woods), the Oakland Tribune’s editor-in-chief, has given him a second chance.
When a reporter covering the imminent execution of San Quentin inmate Frank Beachum (Isaiah Washington) dies in a car accident, Everett lands the story. His boss, by-the-book Bob Findley (Denis Leary), insists on a human-interest sidebar, not a flashy expos, Everett’s former forte. It doesn’t help that bitter Findley knows Everett is bedding his wife.
Everett digs up background information on the condemned Beachum, and senses the story of an innocent man. Everett hopes his reporter’s intuition is back on track; he’s avoided the bottle for two months. Meeting Beachum, who insists he’s innocent, further convinces Everett of a wrongful conviction. His persistent investigation of the story infuriates Findley and threatens his job. The clock ticks against Beachum as Everett digs for evidence to stay the execution and save his career.
Eastwood has cultivated the perfect showcase role for his forty-first starring performance, playing imperfect, cowboy-like Everett, but the story of a wrongly convicted prison inmate and truth-seeking, flawed reporter is nothing new. Additionally, most of the action occurs in the last third of the film, the first two-thirds drag.
The film’s best moments occur in the jail cell of Beachum, especially the heartfelt but not overdone goodbye to his devoted wife, brilliantly played by Lisa Gay Hamilton. Washington shines as a wronged, resolute inmate, but he plays a stiff action sequence. It’s hard to like unrepentant Eastwood, although the role is well acted. Woods, as the wisecracking, politically incorrect, editor-in-chief, mines pure gold.
There are redeeming moments, especially when the film examines racial stereotypes. The murder of a white girl in an African American neighborhood results in a death-row conviction and a reporter pursuing justice, but when an African-American male teen was stabbed to death, the media dropped the ball. The scenes with Woods are funny and fresh. Also, there’s a fun, revealing scene when Everett plays “speed zoo” with his seven-year-old daughter.
Everett’s problems dilute what could have been a tense story, leading away from the racial and death-row issues. True Crime has too many character scenes that impede the progress of the plot. This results in too little action. Viewers are left feeling ho-hum about Everett’s slow-paced search for redemption.
+ Kendeyl Johansen
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