Review:

** (out of ****)

Starring:

Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, Ciarán Hinds, Brenda Fricker, Don Wycherley, Barry Barnes, Simon O'Driscoll, Emmet Bergin, Charlotte Bradley, Mark Lambert, Garret Keogh, Maria McDermottroe

Director:

Joel Schumacher

Screenplay:

Carol Doyle, Mary Agnes Donoghue

Length:

92 min.

MPAA Rating:

R (For violence, language and some drug content)

Passion for the truth, commitment to telling it and courage in the face of danger; Veronica Guerin was a journalist like few others whose pursuit of a story ended in tragedy.

Cate Blanchett takes on a role suited for her immeasurable charisma. Based on a true story, Veronica Guerin was an Irish journalist whose concern for child drug abuse leads her on a journey of personal and professional self-discovery. John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) is one of her long-time informants who attempts to help her reach the bottom of the story until his own life becomes threatened. Her husband wants to keep her home safe to take care of her child but knows that her intense devotion to the news won't keep her down.

Veronica goes in search of a group of mobsters who are targeting young children for the sale of their foul drug wares. She follows many leads but ultimately finds herself chasing a deadly gang of criminals who want nothing to do with her and threaten to endanger her life and the life of her son without an ounce of remorse.

Blanchett, one of Hollywood's best female performers shines as the selfless reporter who will stop at nothing to get her story, even her own death. She yields one of her best performances to date, ranking with her Academy Award-deserved performance in Elizabeth. Here, she plays an impassioned mother and career journalist who allows the audience into her life. Blanchett has an Oscar-caliber role that could lead down a similar path to the one Julia Roberts took as her real-life lawyer.

The difference between Erin Brockovich and Veronica Guerin is that Brockovich was an intensely well-respected movie with a large audience base. Guerin has a limited viewership potential and, outside of Blanchett's fine performance, is virtually indistinguishable from any made-for-television movie. The other performances are hackneyed and weak. The movie is incredibly slow and poorly constructed.

The film's production was filled with speculation that Blanchett would appear in a limited capacity while the story was being told by a mysterious outsider played by Colin Farrell. Now that it's in release, we find that Farrell's role has been reduced to one completely unnecessary scene, while Blanchett's role has been widened and propped up in an attempt to garner Oscar attention. Sadly, it has caused the film to feel misshapen and haphazard.

Veronica Guerin is the kind of movie that most audiences will adore when they see it but won't appeal to a broad spectrum of moviegoers. It's an attempt at inciting contempt over the death of a scrupulous newspaper journalist at the hands of a drug-running band of thugs. Unfortunately, only Blanchett assists in this endeavor while the rest of the film incites boredom.

-Wesley Lovell (November 14, 2003)