True Story

This twisting tale of stolen identity purports to be faithful to the actual events it depicts. But in the circumstances, who knows? Jonah Hill plays a discredited New York Times journalist who discovers that arrested family-murderer James Franco has been using his name while on the run. For both personal and professional reasons, he determines to find out why, via intensive and extensive prison interviews. The two protagonists are bound in mutual neediness: Hill needs a story, Franco needs an audience, and mind games and manipulation ensue on both sides. Hill, normally the comic buffoon of his movies, is nicely cast against type, while Franco is his usual slick self. The film is a little full of itself, and heavy-handed with the message that there's rarely such a thing as absolute and obvious truth. But it's a good story, quite grippingly told, and worth consideration.