"The Ghost Writer", the most recent Roman Polanski effort is a good old fashioned thriller in the style of "Chinatown" or, better yet, a political thriller like "The Parallax View".
This two hour film didn't seem too long or at all contrived. The characters & situations flow easily as we follow the Ewan McGregor character -- the writer hired to 'ghost' a former U.K. Prime Minister's memoirs -- as he painstakenly unravels an elegant mystery that revolves around the fine art of modern espionage.
The prime minister character, fashioned after Tony Blair, is played ably by Pierce Brosnan. His accomplished political wife, played by Olivia Williams, floats in and out of the thriller, while putting up with her husband's personal assistant (wink, wink) played by a buttoned up Kim Cattrall. The dialog is snappy most of the way through and there are few legitimate laughs to be had as a bonus.
In England, a political advesary accuses the P.M. of a war crime while he is visiting America which sets off a media frenzy (and the mystery) that everyone here in the U.S. should already be familiar with: remote trucks, shouting reporters, microphones, angry mobs of protesters, helicopters & the rest. You know.... it could easily have been coverage of Paris Hilton going to jail or Lindsay Lohan coming out of jail or tracking Michael Jackson on his way to and from court, only more serious, presumably. Here, at least, there is some real suspense.
Anyway, I walked out of the theatre feeling like I hadn't wasted a minute of my time except on the ads & trailers preceeding the film. If I were a critic I'd be tempted to give "The Ghost Writer" five stars but would probably back off a bit & give it 4 or 4.5. I had a great date. Even the popcorn was tasty.
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