You won't be disappointed!

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I went into this film thinking it would be about a conman stealing someone's identity and then living an alternate life. Maybe a life on the run. Maybe a life of conning others. Or a life of other more major crimes. I was disappointed that it was just a guy who basically borrowed someone's identity for a bit. The film never explains why and I'm not interested enough to search for the real story.This is a true story but it's not necessarily a good one. Just like real life, it's filled with loose threads that go nowhere and are just pointless. We follow journalist's career as he lies to make his story more interesting. The lie causes him to lose his job. Then a murderer uses his name, they get in touch and he writes a book about the murderer. We don't hear much about the book or the journalist's career after, so it's just a dead-end. There was a scene in a bookstore where he reads part of his book, but that was just a dream. What is the main point of this film? If it's the story of a journalist, then it's a dead end that never gets explored. If it's about the murders, we don't get to know. We only get a text overlay that tells us his confession. If it's about journalism and honesty, then that also doesn't get explored.Nothing gets explored. True Story is the equivalent of me giving you random chapters of my life on film and you go from scene to scene following the chronology, but not really the story.There are so many interesting fictional stories that there's no need to pick a real life story, but even if you do, real life is filled with interesting stories. There's no need to pick a boring one. The biggest mistake was deciding to make this story into a film.

Hill plays a journalist interviewing a murderer during his trial played by Franco. Vague exchanges take place while the two main characters apparently become friends. At some point the movie ends, without a point and without any real story or a hint of subplot.Apart from it not having a story to tell, The films sports a most terrible script uttered by totally uninteresting characters in scenes that are systemically too long. None of the characters are believable, ruining the film's main plot point. Especially Hill's character makes zero sense. You can't be an investigative reporter and then be that naive. A friendship emerging from such shallow, boring and fake conversations, is also not credible. And what was the character of the wife even doing in this movie? She seemed to be his sister at first. Recommended viewing speed: 4X

It's hard for me to find this movie interesting. I didn't really get it. But yes, the opening seemed so promising. Not to mention the character of Christian Longo himself. He's some kind of crazy person or even a psycho, perhaps? He's so unpredictable. Looks stupid but turned out to be smart and so deceiving. This was actually so good, but I couldn't stop thinking that there was something missing. Why Longo chooses to use Finkle's identity was not so well explained. Maybe the dialogue which was not so strong. To me, the story was just not so well explored. This movie is based on a memoir of Michael Finkel. I usually love movies based on true story, but not this one.Sorry. I don't know. It's just not easy to grasp. I need to consult Wikipedia to fill the holes in my head.

I don't enjoy taking time out to write a review of a film that I find thoroughly without merit. But here goes. This film is about a horrific crime. A husband and father murders his wife and three children, gets caught, and attempts to place the blame on his murdered wife. He flees to Mexico where he tries to pass himself off as NY Times reporter/writer, and easily impressed sycophant, Mike Finkle. This film deals with their relationship. As one character (a relative of the murdered wife) puts it to Mr. Finkle during a trial recess, "you could have written a story about anyone and you chose him". She's right. And so this film, like the book it's based on, and the real life relationship between the cold blooded killer and the "hero" worshiping writer, falls into the narcissistic formula of being about the observers rather than the crime or it's victims. It is sickening. The screen writers inject redemptive moments into the story line which does nothing to change the fact that this film has the wrong perspective and is about all the wrong people. And instead of having a ring of truth in them they simply come off as a unnecessary confection, and an utterly distasteful device, in order to sell this bad film. I didn't buy it for a second. I really hate movies like this. It, like the book it's based on, is a vulture picking over the bones of four innocent murder victims for profit.