The Paper (1994)

You sent Robin?

"Highly entertaining albeit thin journalism thriller" is the line from the product description ... I could not disagree more! It is, indeed, noir-less, and it does pack a ton into it's twenty-four hour time frame but this is a really good ensemble movie. The dialog carries the story along effortlessly and, for me, the mark of a good movie is the use of real characters at every level of the story ... even the air conditioner repairmen seem to be more than bodies adding to the realism of a busy newspaper office.

My favorite minor character is Robin, the extremely young photographer ("how old is Robin ... fourteen?") sent out to photograph the perp-walk pertaining to a highly volatile story that could lead to race-riots in the Williamsburg section of NYC in July. Her scenes consist of that marvelous combination of high anxiety fraught with humor (not the other way around!)

Marisa Tomei as Martha, the hugely pregnant, reporter-on-maternity-leave wife of Henry (Michael Keaton), metro editor, is just fabulous in this role. Right from the get-go ("Nice pajamas, Henry" as the alarm goes off and Marty sees her husband sacked out on top of the bed in his work clothes) she creates enormous sympathy for her character without manipulating the audience. Glenn Close is just great as Alicia, the overspending, unfaithful, minor NYC celebrity wanna-be albeit talented, pragmatic businesswoman in charge of keeping the paper from going into bankruptcy every month. Randy Quaid, as MacDougall, gets more info-gathering done dozing on the couch while half listening to the police scanner in Henry's office than the reporters are managing out on the streets. The Sandusky side story for MacDougall's character is hysterical, with a truly scary-funny fight scene involving a gun. Robert Duvall takes the stereotype of Bernie, the hard-bitten, chain-smoking, borderline alcoholic, dissipated Editor in Chief of the paper and gives it the Duvall magic. The Pablo Picasso speech to Alicia is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Last, but not least, is Michael Keaton as Henry, the manic, multitasking, "we're not getting our butts kicked today" Metro editor of The Paper. That bit of casting was just perfect. He doesn't struggle with anything until the movie reaches its climax. He just bulldozes through objections to his modus operendi as so many gnats that have to be swatted away. "I don't f***ing live in the f***ing world, I live in f***ing New York City!!!" he screams into the phone, while his long-suffering secretary (another fantastic character) looks on and utters, "Well, that went well." The two young men whose hapless "wrong place, wrong time" situation lands them in jail on murder charges are the most serious characters in the movie. Their plight is conveyed to the audience in brief, but powerful, scenes, making the viewer anxious for the paper to get it right.

I think the "thinness" criticism of The Paper and the criticism that Ron Howard's choice of film vehicles makes for a "vanilla" movie comes from the notion that ambiguity and unresolved angst are stock-in-trade atmospheric requirements for a film about a gritty NYC tabloid commuter paper. Mr. Howard has taken a lightening rod of a racial story, broken air-conditioning, lots of inter-character tension and camaraderie at all levels of office personnel, dumb luck, ergonomic chairs, illness, pregnancy, journalism, estrangement in both the short and long term, murder, shootings, birth, competition, love, ambition ... and has used it all to create a movie where the lives and reputations of two young men hang in the balance while the clock ticks and we slowly learn that truth itself turns out to be The Paper's main character.

One of my favorite movies! July 27, 2008

Very engaging movie

Quickly paced story of oddball reporters, newspaper room politics, marriage, relationships, and overall wackyness. Pushes the right buttons
and never tries to be pretentious, but just a loving romp. Hard
to find such a straightforward movie these days that is snappy
and not sappy. September 24, 2007

Living and Working in NYC

This has been one of my touchstone movies since it arrived in 1994. I grew up in various locales in the NYC metro area, and can attest to the quickening of an already fast pace of life from the 1960's forward. (I remember when the radio station featured in the movie, 1010-WINS, was a Pop Rock station. BTW, WINS claims today to be "the most listened to radio station in the USA".) The pace of life depicted in this movie, the diverse scenes - which always have a lot of other people going about their business, and the constant need to make decisions quickly are what New York City is to me.

Before you read the travel books or see the videos, you should view this movie to better appreciate what will be going on around you when you visit. The Grand Canyon has serenitity, New York City has adrenaline. July 17, 2007

The Paper review

All of the actors gave a great performance; there was comedy in several spots, and we've watched the film several times. if you can't see it on HBO, buy the disk. April 10, 2007

FUN MOVIE!

This is a FUN movie all around. It takes you into the life of print journalism and gets you involved into the everyday life of news writers and the stress they encounter on a day-to-day basis. Leading the way is Michael Keaton as the hot-shot news writer who's contemplating changing companies to further his status and make the extra buck. He's supported by a great cast of veteran actors who each have a distinct personality that you'll either love or hate. Now that's acting! The great thing about this movie is that it's set in real time like show's like 24 and whatnot. The whole movie is based on this one hectic day and how much of a rollercoaster it becomes. November 3, 2006

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