Harvey Weinstein is a monster who’s rightly serving 23 years behind bars for rape and criminal sexual acts, and The New York Times journalists who broke the news about his misdeeds, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey—as well as the dozens of women who came forward for that piece (and afterward) to tell their tales of abuse and coercion—deserve nothing but praise. Nonetheless, the story of how that bombshell feature came about does not make for a riveting movie. World-premiering at this year’s New York Film Festival (ahead of its Nov. 18 theatrical debut), and on the eve of Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial, She Said is an earnest and well-intentioned dramatization of Kantor and Twohey’s efforts to officially out Weinstein as a serial sexual predator, which ultimately helped fuel the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. It’s also wholly inert, and no more evocative than the reportage upon which it’s based.
An adaptation of Kantor and Twohey’s book of the same name, She Said wants to be a feminist All the President’s Men or Spotlight, the problem being that it lacks those superior predecessors’ mystery and momentum. Directed by Maria Schrader (Netflix’s Unorthodox), the film—following a brief 1992 prologue—picks up in 2016 with Times reporter Twohey (Carey Mulligan) convincing Rachel Crooks (Emma O’Connor) to go on the record about the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of then-presidential hopeful Donald Trump, only to see it result in harassment for Crooks and zero consequences for Trump. The fact that Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson provides the voice for Trump immediately injects a strain of strange cartoonishness into these otherwise serious proceedings. That disconnect between fantasy and reality only escalates when Ashley Judd appears as herself in a turn that comes off as more than a tad jarring, especially since fellow Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan is played (in audio phone calls) by an actress.
This isn’t to say that Judd’s willingness to put herself on the line against Weinstein wasn’t intensely commendable; rather, it’s to note that She Said fails to strike a consistent balance between its authentic and fictionalized elements. It’s difficult to shake the impression that, in terms of coherence and comprehensiveness, a documentary would have better served this narrative. Still, Schrader does the best that she can with her relatively by-the-numbers recitation of Kantor and Twohey’s Herculean struggle to drag Weinstein’s offenses into the light of day. The director’s bland aesthetics are clean and grave, vacillating between images in which Kantor, Twohey and others are small and isolated in the frame (to suggest their powerlessness) and close-ups and group shots (to convey the camaraderie that binds them on this mission). Such visuals are only slightly more inventive than those found in Spotlight, but at least they don’t distract attention away from the heroic bravery on display.
It's Kantor (Zoe Kazan), a mother of two girls, who initiates the Times’ investigation into Weinstein, and she soon enlists the aid of Twohey, who’s wrestling with postpartum depression following the birth of her first child (a daughter). Kantor understands and relates to Twohey’s quiet suffering, as does their editor Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson), and analogous ties link these journalists to the women whom Weinstein terrorized and ruined. From a Zoom chat about rape between Kantor and her older daughter, to Twohey furiously screaming at an entitled man’s unacceptable advances at a bar, She Said unites its female subjects as victims (or would-be victims) of systems of sexist oppression and abuse—a notion that Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s script then overtly verbalizes, lest anyone miss the point.
At outset, Kantor and Twohey find it difficult to track down reliable sources to corroborate the whispered rumors about Weinstein, but their dogged sleuthing reaps rewards, both with A-list stars and with Miramax employees and Weinstein assistants who endured comparably nightmarish hotel-room encounters with Weinstein that turned terrifying. Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle embody two of the individuals compelled to talk to Kantor and Twohey, and in their and other likeminded sit-down (or telephone) interview scenes, Schrader restores their voices, which were silenced by Weinstein’s non-disclosure agreements, financial settlements, and threats of legal and professional retaliation. Unfortunately, though, She Said rarely thrums with urgency or suspense; there’s a plodding predictability to its trajectory and revelations, and that clunkiness is enhanced by dramatized flashbacks (featuring different, younger actors) that are stilted and unnecessary.
More than one character notes that, far from unique, Weinstein’s behavior was par for the American status-quo course. Yet Schrader never expands her saga’s purview to contextualize the producer’s disgusting conduct as symptomatic of a larger disease, thereby undercutting any sought-after bigger picture. More frustrating, despite an on-the-nose conversation between Kantor and her kid about how everyone has secrets, there’s nothing surprising or complex lurking beneath She Said’s surface. While that might be more forgivable were there a fascinating focus on journalistic processes, the film is rather mundane in that regard, save for a few sharp inside-baseball details (including one editor remarking that Kantor and Twohey’s copy has too many double spaces) and the amusingly gruff, no-nonsense performance of Andre Braugher as Times executive editor Dean Baquet.
She Said respectfully relays horrors as well as expresses the frustrations and fury of marginalized women. The longer it proceeds, though, the more it proves formulaic and lethargic, incapable of drumming up requisite outrage or a climactic sense of triumph. Similarly, both Mulligan (tough and yet slightly unsteady) and Kazan (determined and occasionally weepy) are captivating leads who wind up hamstrung by two-dimensional roles, as evidenced by the fact that their personal and familial travails are introduced to give them depth and then carelessly dropped once the hunt for Weinstein ramps up. Even in their pre-publishing showdowns with Weinstein—who’s eventually depicted on-screen, albeit only from behind—their brave resolve is one-note, uncomplicated by any legitimate threat of danger or questions about the justness of their cause.
All of this makes She Said a film that preaches to the choir by regurgitating recent headline news in basic, mildly affecting fashion. It may be good for you, but it’s too blunt and self-satisfied to actually be good cinema.
