True Story

James Franco and Jonah Hill starred together in This is the End, but in Rupert Goold's True Story, they're trading concepts of moral culpability instead of bong rips and masturbation jokes. Their credibility as dramatic actors is never a question; the credibility of the bland true-life drama they inhabit is entirely another matter. The stakes are all screwy, and it's never clear why the story of a disgraced writer reclaiming his reputation (Hill) is placed front and center, while life-and-death matters involving a suspected mass murderer (Franco) get pushed to the sidelines. Even Truman Capote wasn't that egotistical. The filmmaking is drab and predictable—Goold holds the film at a resting pulse throughout, encouraging his often outsized lead actors to underplay their parts, and the material holds very little dramatic urgency. D.B.