Spotlight Turns Catholic Church Abuse Scandal into All the President's Men

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The first trailer for Spotlight is HEAVY. The film, from Station Agent and Win Win director Tom McCarthy, recounts the Boston Globe's valiant efforts to uncover a string of child molestation cases covered up by the local Catholic Archdiocese. Spotlight zigs and zags as the Globe reporters dig deeper into the Church's sex abuse legacy, evoking the determined journalistic pursuits seen in great films like All the President's Men, The China Syndrome, The Insider, and Good Night, and Good Luck. Or it would, if the trailer weren't so dizzying. The trailer is all about the gasp-worthy moments, a salvo of revelations—delivered with force by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, and Liev Schreiber—accompanied by Inception-like horn blasts. Considering McCarthy's previous films are delicate and tightly wound and reflective, we expect a finished product with a rounder shape. Whatever the case, this is a story that deserves the screen time. The Globe won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for its work exposing the hush-hush crimes of Catholic priests. The reporters are heroes in plainclothes. No Inception BRAAMS required.