Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #240252 in DVD
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, German, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish

Amazon.com
Highly entertaining albeit thin journalism thriller, this examination of a 24-hour period in the life of a New York Post-ish tabloid focuses on a hard-working metro editor (a pitch-perfect Michael Keaton) thinking of going to a loftier job at a rival paper. Edgy, "NYC as the center of the universe" full of sweat and grit, the paper debates the hot story of the day: a racial shooting. Like most movies from Ron Howard's universe (Parenthood, Backdraft), it's always just a movie, full of dramatic, over-the-top setups instead of the genuine article. Still, the film has the feeling of being there, full of workman's vigor where "I'm on deadline" is the family motto. The cast is just right although the roles are stereotypical: the grizzled editor-in-chief (Robert Duvall) the cold female manager (Glenn Close), the slightly whacked-out ace columnist (Randy Quaid), and the rest. Each actor has choice moments in this movie that may turn fans on to the hectic side of journalism. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Ron Howard's big-city-newspaper comedy is a game try at reviving a great Hollywood genre. It doesn't adhere very scrupulously to the classical form, but it sure does play. The movie-which follows Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton), the Metro editor of a struggling New York tabloid, through a single, absurdly gruelling day-gets most of its laughs by constantly piling fresh difficulties on top of already impossible circumstances. The furious plot complications have the effect of confirming the it's-always-something consciousness of harried city folk, and this stressed-out fatalism gives the picture an inexorable and oddly pleASINg comic momentum. Keaton is at his best here, which means that his mind appears to be working at warp speed, and with a berserk, reckless lucidity. Randy Quaid, Marisa Tomei, Robert Duvall, and Jason Alexander create lively, funny characters for Keaton to bounce off, and Howard lets the actors' energy drive the movie. Unfortunately, some inappropriate yuppie philosophizing starts creeping in toward the end; it's clear that Howard and the screenwriters, David and Stephen Koepp, aren't quite willing to go all the way with the heartless, cynical wit of the genre. Also with Glenn Close and Catherine O'Hara. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Good movie, Bad DVD...
Ron Howard isn't the most dynamic of directors -- his style is pretty vanilla and he hasn't picked the greatest projects in the world (i.e. Ransom) but he was right on the money with The Paper. While he tends to cram a little too much into one day -- nobody has that exciting a day -- you have to give him a bit of artistic license -- it is a movie after all.

Michael Keaton is well-cast as the big city paper editor with too much on his plate. He can do the manic side of his character (see, well, any movie he's ever done) and he's also up for the serious stuff too. Obviously, he must enjoy playing a journalist as he did a great job as one in Live From Baghdad as well.

The cast is what makes this film work so well. Aside from Keaton, the other real stand-out is Randy Quaid as a fellow reporter and friend. For years now, Quaid as been typecast in dumb guy roles. It so refreshing to see him actually play an intelligent, street savvy reporter in this film. He gets all the great lines and steals all the scenes he's in. The film really kicks into gear when he and Keaton team-up to blow the lid off of a high profile story. I'd love to see these guys do another film together.

While the film does get a tad on the preachy, idealistic side, it still is a very entertaining look at working on a major newspaper in New York City. It's a shame that the DVD is such a letdown. No extras and pan and scanned. Ugh. However, Opie seems to be revisiting his films on DVD with new special editions (i.e. Splash, Ransom). Hopefully, this one will get the deluxe treatment.

Sum less than the (good) parts
Odd film, this. The cast is first-rate and the individual performances good, at times excellent (Close, Duvall, Tomei); the main theme of the story is interesting, as are the sub-plots; Ron Howard's direction is of the high quality audiences would expect; and the settings are authentically New York, appropriate for a "newspaper" flick. So, why doesn't it all work any better than it does?

One reason is that the individual scenes have greater dramatic impact than the complete film does. At times, the scenes appear to have been taken from different films and pasted together into this one.

Robert Duvall's attempts to reestablish contact with his estranged daughter - an angry woman if ever there was one - are both touching and unsettling. The restaurant scene with Michael Keaton and Marisa Tomei presents a detailed, albeit quick, portrait of their complex relationship, although Keaton's out-of-body experience seemed out-of-keeping with the overall tone of the film. The newspaper editorial staff meeting provides opportunity for several of the supporting characters to distinguish themselves. Tomei's solo screen time is excellent and the Keaton/Close knock-down, drag-out fight on the catwalk by the presses is genuinely frightening.

But, the drama in these scenes does not carry over to the film as a whole. Since each of these story elements receives almost equal attention, the main thread of the story - whether or not the paper will effect the fate of the accused man - does not take center stage. With the film's focus shifted to the struggles among the people who think they hold the accused's fate in their hands, the audience does not have an opportunity to empathize with the accused himself.

In the theatre, this lack of empathy can make the whole venture fall flat. Fortunately, with the DVD format, one can re-watch his favorite scenes without investing time repeating the entire film. In this film, the individual performances are sufficiently powerful to warrant that approach.

STOP THE PRESSES
A high powered ensemble cast propels Ron Howard's examination of 24 hours in the life of a struggling New York paper. Michael Keaton gives a solid performance as the managing editor who wants to make up for the paper's losing a key story. Robert Duvall plays the cancer-ridden editor who wants a relationship with his estranged daughter; Glenn Close has as pre Cruella Deville moment as the acerbic manager; Marisa Tomei tries for another Oscar as Keaton's wife, but she doesn't quite pull it off; Randy Quaid is the columnist who works with Keaton to save the fate of two wrongfully accused African American teenagers, and Jason Alexander surfaces as a disgruntled victim of the press. All in all, it's frenetic and Howard does a good job of capturing the feel of a newspaper facing a seemingly impossible deadline. The movie is a little too long, but it reaches the expected climax with a few moments of tension along the way.