She Said

She Said follows the story of Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) as they break the 2016 Harvey Weinstein scandal story. Journalism films are not typically huge box office hits, but they tend to do fairly well overall, such as 2015’s Spotlight and 2017’s The Post. This film however has only captured $7.3 million of the $32 million budget as of the writing of this article. So why is it flopping?

While the film does a great job of showing the audience the process of researching and developing an investigative story, it sacrifices one crucial element in a film, pacing. The film is so slow the audience is almost begging for them to speed up and get to the point. Furthermore, they insert elements of the reports’ lives that don't serve the overall story and don't pay off at all later. We watch as Kantor interacts with her family, and Twohey as she deals with her pregnancy and subsequent postpartum depression. Neither of which brings anything to the story of them doing investigative reporting. At a 2 hour and 9 minute run time, they could have easily cut about 30 minutes focusing on their lives, and it would have been a slightly more cohesive film. The most engaging part of the film was when everyone is huddled around the computer doing a final proofread before taking the story live. Proofreading is one of the most boring parts of any writing job, and it was somehow more engaging than the characters doing actual investigative work. One of the reasons is because at that moment, the audience can actually feel tension and excitement that the story is finally getting published. And perhaps because the film is almost over.

One of the ways most films keep the audience engaged and continuing on the journey is through the film score. Investigative reporting can be fairly boring up until the end. It’s a lot of phone calls, research, and leg work. However, even when what the characters are doing is boring, a good film score will make it more exciting and engaging. This film’s score does the opposite, it makes a two hour movie feel like an eternity. 

The acting in this film is abysmal. The actors give flat performances that make it hard to sympathize or root for their characters. For instance, while Twohey is experiencing postpartum depression, the audience sees her having a breakdown and crying in her apartment while her husband tries to comfort her. Given that postpartum depression is a real issue that many women deal with, you would think this would elicit a response from the audience and encourage them to root for her to overcome this. But sadly this does not happen. The performance is so bad and out of place, the audience just wonders how this contributes to the story and why it’s there in the first place. Spoiler Alert: by the end, we still have no idea why the scene needed to be there. There are several moments in the film where the characters deliver a line that traditionally would be a moving light bulb moment and engage the audience. However these lines fall flat. The lines come off as rehearsed and uncomfortable to the point where the audience is taken out of the film experience and cringe at the line delivery. 

The best performance was Andre Braugher as Dean. Every line was delivered expertly and with conviction. The audience never doubted that his character was anything less than a seasoned newsman that they could rally around, despite having less than ten minutes of screen time. Now could this be due to experience, perhaps. Mulligan and Kazan each have thirty-four acting credits compared to Braugher’s sixty-five. If experience was the case, then the casting director should have casted more experienced actresses or the film’s director should have sent them to acting coaches to make sure they gave a compelling performance. 

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in She Said (2022)

The film does not set up their minor characters at all. While Twohey and Kantor are given a whole backstory and the audience knows them, the audience is left wondering who the rest of the non Weinstein related characters are. For instance, Andre Braugher stars as Dean Baquet, the New York Times executive editor from 2014-2022. However, I only know that because I Googled him after the film. For the entire film, he is only known as “Dean” and pops in randomly to help our main reporters. This could be innocuous and the audience might assume he is just a fellow reporter. However, he is the only person at the New York Times who is able to get Harvey Weistein on the phone to talk to the reporters. Someone who has that kind of power should not be relegated to just their first name as he is clearly important to the story. Patricia Clarkson was cast in the film as Rebecca Corbett as the New York Times editor and has multiple scenes with our reporters giving direction. Again, the audience has no idea why she is important to the story. Similarly, there is a man who is frequently with Corbett and seems to have a similar role, but I cannot tell you his name as I cannot find him in the cast list or google search. These three characters highlight a key issue in the film, devoting time to things that do not matter to the overall story, such as the reporters’ personal lives, and not focusing on the characters who helped make the story possible. While these three are technically minor characters, their reason for being there could be highlighted with a throw away line or a shot of their name plaque with their title, at minimum. 

Now, some would say this review is sexist. It’s a female lead film in a genre where men are typically more dominant, such as The Post and Spotlight. Thus this film should be higher rated because it is “important” or “ground breaking”. This would be inaccurate. For comparison, Inventing Anna was released on Netflix earlier this year. Another project with a female journalist doing investigative reporting, who is also pregnant at the time, and even a female villain. Inventing Anna is set in 2013, while She Said is set in 2016, thus comparable time frames. Both projects have female directors as well. The only difference between the two projects is one is a two hour film and the other is a nine episode mini series. However, Inventing Anna is far more engaging with its tone, character development, and the audience feels this project has stakes. She Said is dry, the acting is unconvincing, and it does not feel like there are any real stakes. Some may say that is the difference between a mini series and a film, in this case I would disagree. I could watch two episodes of Inventing Anna, comparable to two hours, and feel more engaged and satisfied than She Said, even if I didn’t know how it ends. 

As stated previously, journalism films are not going to be box office smashes like an action film. But how does She Said stand up against similar films such as Spotlight and The Post? All three films were released in either November or December, prime view time for Oscar contenders. Opening weekend, Spotlight made $4.4 million, The Post made $18.6 million, and She Said made $2.2 million, the lowest out of all three despite being released at the same time of year. Now, She Said could gain momentum and gross more. Spotlight ended its theatrical run with $98.7 million and The Post ended with $179.8 million. Both had theatrical runs between 21-26 weeks.  But this seems unlikely. With the holiday season fast approaching, and more enjoyable movies releasing, She Said will be lucky to cover its $30 million budget. 

Patricia Clarkson, Casey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in She Said (2022)

Now, some would say She Said was released post pandemic where the box numbers are not the same as before. Also not true. By comparison, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever grossed $66 million, The Menu grossed $9 million, sharing the same opening weekend as She Said, and Black Adam grossed $4 million. Black Panther and Black Adam had both already been released in the previous weeks. These numbers show that viewers are still showing up to theaters. Thus, the post pandemic excuse cannot be blamed for the opening weekend numbers. 

Regarding star power, She Said lags far behind. Now, I am only including those who I can instantly think of multiple projects when seeing their name, which is what most people do when they see a cast list. Spotlight has at least four major actors in Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, and Stanley Tucci. The Post has three in Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Sarah Paulson. She Said however has maybe one in Andre Braugher, who was not utilized enough. Could star power and seasoned actors be one of the issues with She Said? I would say yes. The previous two films have major stars that will make audiences show up, even if they don’t know what the film is about. If She Said had swapped out the cast with more seasoned actors, this likely would have saved the film.

Accelerating the pacing, casting more seasoned actors, and cutting unnecessary scenes could have easily saved this film. However it ends up dry, slow, and overall a snooze fest for a topic that should be interesting and capture audiences. While there are many journalism films that will grace many Top 10 and Top 100 best films, She Said will be relegated to the Top 10 and Top 100 worst films.