In a year of journalism scandal with the ousting of fabricator Jayson Blair from the New York Times, it may seem like making a film about Stephen Glass, a reporter who famously invented stories for the New Republic magazine and then wrote a book about his escapades, would be just a timely hook for producers. But the resulting Shattered Glass, written and directed by Billy Ray, based on Buzz Bissinger’s September 1998 Vanity Fair article about the political rag scandal, is more than just a product of fortuitous timing. The actors, in particular Hayden Christensen (formerly of a little blockbuster called Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones) and Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don’t Cry) plumb the depths of professional integrity’s gray scale. Christensen plays Glass as an ass-kissing overachiever whose plaintive refrains to his friends and editors (“are you mad at me, Chuck?”) transform him from sympathetic protagonist to whining child. In contrast to Stephen’s questionable morality is Sarsgaard’s Chuck Lane, a writer turned editor who never quite fits in on a staff loyal to a former editor (Hank Azaria), who finally must point an indignant finger at the popular rising star. Rounding out this lovely cast are indie favorites Steve Zahn and Rosario Dawson as web writers who stumble on the big scoop that leads to Glass’s downfall, along with Chloe Sevigny and Melanie Lynskey as friends of the odd duck Glass. What makes Christensen’s performance and Shattered Glass itself so intriguing is the way that the film starts to give the audience a glimpse into Glass’s subjectivity and yet denies us a blatant first person recount of why. We see some of the moments that led to his deception and begin to get an understanding of how he did it, but as the film closes, it delightfully leaves the audience with more questions than answers.
—KAREN WILSON