Trumbo Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Trumbo
Year: 2015
Director: Jay Roach
Country: US
Language: English

James Dalton Trumbo (Dec 9, 1905- Sept 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist. He is most noted for winning two Oscars (Best Writing for Roman Holiday & Best Writing for The Brave One) and being part of the Hollywood Ten during the Communist Scare of the 1950's. The Hollywood Ten refers to 10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)  in October 1947, refusing to answer questions regarding their communist affiliations and ultimately being blacklisted by the Hollywood Studios. Most were never again employed by Hollywood again, but a few wrote under pseudonyms. After the scare ended in the 60's Trumbo and another writer wrote scripts under their real names once again. 

Trumbo recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice under the blacklist, which entangled everyone in Hollywood. 

Trumbo is a good film, but not great. I love how this film is so adamantly against the blacklist, but I would have enjoyed more complicated antagonists. Exposing communists during the cold war was more of a difficult decision than just "I love America and Freedom!" (at least one would hope). Elia Kazan had such mixed feelings about "naming names" that he had to make On the Waterfront to get it out of his conscious. 

There's no denying that the Hollywood blacklist did destroy lives however, and the film does show the physical and mental decay of Dalton Trumbo very well. When he rants to his dying friend about "exposing the studio" we think the character has gone insane; it certainly doesn't help that he is addicted to pills and booze. Trumbo's great depiction is in part due to clever writing and in part due to Bryan Cranston's phenomenal performance. He embodies every aspect of the tortured writer, even getting offbeat patterns in the man's speech down to a tee.  

I would have liked the film to be less of a hagiography and less bias in favor of the writers. The heroes and villains of this story are drawn with such black and white lines. Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) reminds me of Cruella Da Vil in her comic-book like villainy. "CATCH THOSE COMMIES!" I also wish the film would have focused more on the lives of the other writers and how the blacklist affected them, but I suppose Trumbo was the most successful/interesting of them? Overall it's an entertaining film that has potential within its story. 3.5/5