Nothing But The Truth

Most moviegoers know Kate Beckinsale as that gorgeous babe in the skin tight leather pants in Underworld (not a bad reputation to have, but stick with me, I’m going somewhere with this), but those who are willing to take a closer look (at her ability instead of her buns) will find a solid leading actress who leads a talented cast in Nothing But The Truth.

Much like Valerie Plame and Judith Miller, Beckinsale stars as Rachel Armstrong – a reporter who has stumbled onto a huge story. She has discovered the identity of a covert CIA agent, Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga), and the revelation, because of Van Doren’s ties to others, becomes the main topic of chatter around DC. However, the law might have also been broken, so a special prosecutor, Patton DuBois (Matt Dillon), is appointed to discover who might have illegally provided the information to Rachel, but she refuses to name the source, and finds herself facing jail time to defend a journalistic principle that not everyone supports.

Will she name the source?

Will anyone care?

How long can she hold out?

While the subject matter might sound a bit wonky to non-DC types, writer/director Rod Lurie has a talent for taking the subject and making it compelling to the most anti-political person in the room by focusing on the personal drama as well. Yes, this sounds like a case that would be argued in journalism class, but Lurie also gives us a glimpse into how the controversy affects Rachel’s life, career, friendships and, most importantly, the relationship with her family without making all melodramatic and straight from a daytime soap opera. As the controversy continues and continues, every member of the audience is compelled to ask themselves how much a principle is worth when everything else is being stripped away piece by piece.

Yet, the stripping seems to take forever! I am willing to let Lurie argue that we need to understand the lengths to which Rachel is willing to go, and the indefatigable, and morally questionable pit bull DuBois becomes while prosecuting the case, but even the biggest fan of Nothing But The Truth might be screaming, “enough already!”

However, the audience gets to see Beckinsale do it all in Nothing But The Truth. She creates for Rachel a more realistic reporter’s personality than you might see in a 1940’s movie character named Scoop. She gives Rachel a breezy, friendly, almost flirty approach to get people to talk, infuses her with the spirit that what she is doing is important, and shows us the anguish and pain she must overcome for a goal and principle not everyone wants to defend.

Nothing But The Truth has one of those endings that you will either love or hate, so I’ll let you pass judgment on that, but, I warn you, it is a doozey.

Nothing But The Truth is rated R for language, some sexual material and a scene of violence.