The Paper (1994)

Wonderful character development!

Let's be realistic.

Just perfect...

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I was disappointed in Ron Howard's 2006 "The Da Vinci Code", but "The Paper" is everything the overblown "Da Vinci Code" is not, namely exciting and suspenseful with well-rounded but solidly interesting and highly believable characters, plus lots of quite breathtakingly imaginative use of real locations. Despite Howard's equally adroit use of actual city streets and buildings in "Da Vinci", the over-all effect was boring rather thrilling, ho-hum rather than "Wow! Let's see that scene again!" Of course, "The Paper" is more down to earth. Its plot and characters are far more convincingly realistic – and the players really do them justice. Even minor roles – such as Spalding Gray's "Paul Bladden" and Jason Robards's "Graham Keighley" – are so cleverly integrated into the plot that they hold the viewer spellbound and keep him or her – especially him – asking for more. As the hero, Michael Keaton, does a really first-class job and keeps the viewer rooting for the character even when he over-steps the mark by his verbal badgering of the other characters and even his out-and-out stealing. Fortunately, the screen writing Koepps provide him with an important principal – "As far as I'm aware, the paper has never ever gone to press with a front-page story which we knew was wrong!" – and the Keaton character's adherence to this principle tips the scales in his favor when Alicia Clark (superbly enacted by Glenn Close) decides against halting the print run and Keaton's Henry Hackett sets out to attack her both physically and verbally. Yes, it may be a bit over the top – I haven't even mentioned another ten or twenty gripping incidents – but "The Paper" is so fast-paced, so enthrallingly plotted, so charismatically directed and so brilliantly enacted by the entire cast – there's no time to stop and think that maybe all these wild incidents strain credulity just a little, here and there! Available on a really excellent Universal DVD.

"The Paper"'s strong suit is its second act, when it's actually being a newspaper movie. Sure, the whole movies set in the offices of a second- rate New York City paper, but most of what goes on in those offices is human drama ... and actually kinda soap opera-ey, at that. Keaton's torn between a better job elsewhere and doing what he's hard-wired to do. It's like "His Girl Friday", but there's no tension or interplay between his character and whomever would substitute Cary Grant, here.And although Keaton is the shining star, there are some good performances from the ensemble cast: Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, and even Randy Quaid). And I did like the uses of wry humor to add levity to the darker scenes. Still not a fan of the blood in the kitchen scene; felt contrived and didn't really go anywhere (did Keaton learn anything from it? Will things change?). Decent movie; at its best when it focuses on the wrongfully-convicted teens story.6/10

I've been to a newsroom only twice in my life. First, it's to collect some lucky draw winnings, and I had a sneak peek into the hustle and bustle of a newsroom from behind a glass panel. The next one was more up close and personal, because a journalist friend brought me right up to his desk (and an incredibly piled up one at that), and I had first hand view of how news got made. Or at least it seemed that the next day's articles were done up because there were few people left in the office, and there was a group huddled at one corner.Ron Howard's The Paper was one of those films that I didn't catch at the cinemas (at that time, the teenage me only recognized Michael Keaton of his 1989 Batman and 1992 Batman Returns fame), and missed a number of scheduled telecast and re-runs on television. So it's no surprise that I snapped up the DVD the minute I saw it in the discount bins at the store. And I wonder just why the heck it took me so long to get down to watching this, with no regrets (save for the technical aspect of the presentation).Keaton plays a Henry Hackett, a sub-editor for a small time tabloid in New York. Being a go-getting workaholic, he often puts his family life aside, which of course puts his very pregnant wife Martha (Marisa Tomei) under a lot of stress especially with her pregnancies woes, and not being able to get out there and do stuff. For their financial stability, one of the many subplots here involves her getting Henry a job interview at a larger paper, The Sentinel, and threatens him not to sabotage his own opportunities for advancement, which we learnt that he does so quite frequently in order to stay where he is.And it's not rocket science why too, as the bunch of folks he's working with is really madcap, and I think I too can thrive in such as a stressful, chaotic, but totally livewire environment. Each character presents a separate subplot which intertwines with Henry's life, and in one scene which I was totally mesmerized with, was when everyone dropped by Henry's office, and it went just off the hook. Wonderful stuff there, especially when you have Glenn Close as a rival sub-editor who happens to be the office bicycle (erm, that means everyone had had a ride), Robert Duvall as an ailing editor stricken with cancer and trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and Randy Quaid in a totally hilarious role as the bummer in the office.All these while the team had to debate with the front page story for the next day, centered on reporting what's accurate and doing what's right – the social responsibility in being a paper, with pressure on them because they had missed the previous day's scoop. Everyone's preoccupied with their own personal agenda, set against an office where the air-conditioner isn't working and driving temperatures and tempers up. It's work and family over a period of 24 hours, and I felt that this film had a story that ranks itself up there with other films that deal with their narratives over the same time period.You'd have come to expect a certain assured standard from director Ron Howard, and this film demonstrates nothing less. Everything naturally comes together perfectly toward the end like the birth of a new dawn, with relationships bruised but not battered, and what I also enjoyed here was John Seale's superb cinematography which had this extremely fluid motion when bringing us in and around a newsroom for that office tour each time we run around like crazy with Henry. The paper would be one of my personal favourites, and my only regret (besides the technical aspects of the DVD) was why it had taken me this long to uncover this gem of an enjoyable film.

"Things can change in 24 hours." One of the quotes from the movie "The Paper" I have learned a lot from this movie, it showed me how things got done, what is the competition and what can change in 24 hours. With an all-star cast of Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei and more, they used there acting skills to show what the characters would be like in a real paper business. Well throughout the movie I have noticed that everyone is always working from sun up to sun down, this is a curial thing to make sure that there news is the most up to date as it can be. Throughout the movie they are covering a story about two African American kids that were blamed for a murder, except for they did not do it, they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. So throughout one day in the movie "the Paper" they were trying to see if the kids were not guilty so they can be the only ones to print the "right" thing on there front page. This shows journalism at its best, they had teams that went to different places trying to get all the information they can get to prove this innocence's. After hours and hours of trying and going to places and getting shot down, they finally went to a cop and got what they needed, saving it just in time, printing what they wanted to print. Another thing was that just like in the real world there were chains of commands, this was broken a lot in this movie to get what the wanted for the story, but there was some scud things, such as the bar fight and the fight in the paper room. The story gave a great example at what goes on in a paper room and what can happen or and will.