She Said is very much cut from the same cloth as films like All the President’s Men (1976) and Spotlight (2015), which also follow investigative journalists. Generally, I enjoy this subgenre, though its films can often be difficult to follow – sadly, a trap that She Said falls into. The movie fires many names at you in rapid succession, which I found confusing in places, but thankfully never to the point that I lost track of the plot entirely.
Obviously, Weinstein himself couldn’t appear in person, but I think a better solution would have been to never show him on screen
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) and Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick) play the two leads, Megan and Jodi. I have long been a fan of Mulligan’s work, but had never seen Kazan in a major role before. They make an excellent duo, both handling the story’s emotional beats nicely. The other actors do well with their limited screen time, but none leave much of an impression. In a later scene, the reporters have a meeting with Weinstein, played by Mike Houston, however with several other celebrities playing themselves in the movie, to me, this felt quite jarring. Obviously, Weinstein himself couldn’t appear in person, but I think a better solution would have been to never show him on screen.
Maria Schrader, the film’s director, handles the heavy subject matter with the care and reverence it deserves. The most engaging scenes are when victims recount their experience with Weinstein. A particularly captivating sequence used a genuine audio recording, while slowly pushing the camera through the empty corridors of a hotel. As intended, this was deeply disturbing, really bringing home the reality of the events portrayed. The movie’s score builds progressively during several scenes, eventually drowning out all other sound. This was an inspired piece of directing that helped create tension.
Clocking in at only 129 minutes, She Said isn’t super long. However, I did find its pacing rather uneven, especially later on, with its conclusion feeling very abrupt and uninspired. As the reporters publish their article, the movie cuts to black, and text appears on screen, explaining the events that followed. This is an incredibly overdone way to end films based on a true story. Perhaps a more creative alternative would have been to intercut the credits with news footage, visualising the information which the text simply spelt out for us. Show, don’t tell, and all that!
Bolstered by two very strong lead performances and solid direction from Maria Schrader, She Said is another strong journalism movie. Its screenplay does have issues, with the constant barrage of names to remember and the pacing issues in the back half. However, those flaws didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film. 8/10