For many years as he was churning out box office hits as Wolverine whilst also starring in successful studio programmers/awards flicks/popular plays, Hugh Jackman was an almost universally loved actor and somehow still very much under appreciated, mainly because of how easy he made it look.
Now, on the back of a career high performance in ‘Logan’ to end his time as Wolverine, it feels people are really appreciating what Jackman does and they will be even happier once they have seen this film.
Detailing the true story of a college fraud scandal, this film takes an interestingly comedic and high energy approach, whilst some of the camera work makes it feel almost documentary style.
The story itself is interesting and packed full of surprises, and especially for Jackman’s character there is a big LGBTQ storyline that I won’t spoil as it wasn’t included in the marketing but it is compelling and well executed.
The best thing about this film is the cast, with Jackman giving a performance unlike we have seen from him before and now he is free of franchise commitments, I can’t wait to see him continue to take risks like this.
Alison Janney is also very good in her supporting role here, showing exactly why she is now an Oscar winner and one of the most respected character actors of her generation.
The only disappointment for me was how under-utilised Geraldine Viswanathan was in what could’ve been a fascinating role but essentially just operates as a plot device to get the plot moving. Viswanathan is a great talent and I hope she gets more compelling roles going forward.
Despite the fact that this is very much a ‘film’, it was released as a TV Movie on HBO and therefore will compete in the TV awards season and not the film awards season, and it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.
Rating = 3.5/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 