When I told my mom I recently watched She Said, she asked, “Oh, is that a romantic comedy?” No, mom, it’s a true goddamn story about The New York Times’ investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s abuse of women. But she was right: it does sound like a romantic comedy.

The movie is one of several financial flops this award seasons–perhaps its title is one of the many reasons–but She Said does deserve much more attention than it has received: it’s an immersive and powerful drama-thriller that brings to life the journalist prowess needed to take down someone as powerful as Weinstein.

Starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, She Said is the kind of old school journalism procedural we don’t get nearly enough these days (the box office failure here indicates we’ll get even fewer in the future). Very much in tune with the likes of All the President’s Men, director Maria Schrader, working from a screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, delivers a methodical, piercing look at the exhaustive work these two women put into their investigation. 

Mulligan and Kazan are both great in understated roles.

Lacking much in the way of melodrama or concocted emotion, She Said plays things by the book to solid if not phenomenal results. The subject matter at hand is powerful, but the movie itself doesn’t quite do enough to stand out. It’s an important story to be told, but is it an important movie?

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.