SHATTERED GLASS (2003)  ***1/2

Reviewed 11/11/03

First off I’d like to say that Hayden Christensen can act after all! Of course he works better when he’s not given some of the worst dialogue in recent memory (damn, did I have to remind myself of that scene in ATTACK OF THE CLONES when he’s talking about various forms of government with Nat Portman). But then, there’s not a weak performance in SHATTERED GLASS. It’s really nice to see folk like Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn and Rosario Dawson play real people. Peter Sarsgaard (who’s just plain smoldering here) and Chloe Sevigny are expectedly marvelous, and what a delight to see Melanie Lynskey all these years after her great turn in HEAVENLY CREATURES (yeah, she’s been in other movies, but I haven’t seen ‘em).

The title refers to Stephen Glass (Christensen), a reporter who fabricated numerous stories for “The New Republic” and was found out in 1998 (and whose repercussions reverberate anew with Jayson Blair’s more recent scandal at “The New York Times”). This is a meticulous, incisive look at his downfall. Aside from an awkward moment near the end applauding chief editor Chuck Lane (Sarsgaard) as a hero for all journalists and the hokey twist of the framing device (Glass as guest lecturer in a classroom), SHATTERED GLASS works like gangbusters – especially in its depiction of office gossip, camaraderie, and politics (both at “The New Republic” and “Forbes”) and how it conveys the escalating tension we’ve all felt when caught in a falsehood.  The line of the film is Lane responding to Glass, “Oh, I heard you.”