Shattered Glass

Slight spoilers from beginning to end.
A startling performance from the usually un-reliable Hayden Christensen is just one of the stepping stones Billy Ray's Shattered Glass takes towards near perfection. Christensen plays Stephen Glass, a young reporter who invented facts, locations, quotes and people in his stories for The New Republic, a respected magazine known especially for being supplied to the passengers aboard Air Force One. Christensen's startling performance shows he is a fine actor when given the right role to bite his teeth into to, but he is still upstaged in many scenes by Peter Sarsgaard, one of the most reliable actors in the business, and sadly one of the most underrated.

Rather than demonizing Glass, the film takes an abstract view of his exploits, making his lies as inconspicuous as they were to his co-workers, at least at first. It then focuses on a story about a hacker who gained access to a major software companies' wesbite, in which Glass lost himself in his lies and was gradually found out. It starts with a routine check-up, then a few suspicious glances about, then the belief Glass made a mistake, and finally the realization he made it all up. In an especially powerful scene, Glass' editor Chuck Lane (beautifully underplayed by Saarsgard) reads through every one of Glass' items, and as he tosses each one to the floor, realizes the extent of Glass' lies, and how long he had been getting away with it.


There is support from Hank Azaria, who plays a large part in Glass' upbringing, Steve Zahn, who is the first to sniff out the inconsistencies in Glass' story, and Rosario Dawson, whose nosiness ends up landing her a part in his investigation of Glass and his 'sources'. Glass also makes a few female friends at the magazine, lead by Chloe Segviny, who at first refuse to believe the accusations that have been leveled against him, but gradually come to realise the truth. Every one of the supporting players are faultless, each contributing in their own way to Glass' downfall.

Difficult to criticise in any way, Shattered Glass is a thought-provoking triumph of low-budget but high-quality filmmaking, bringing into the open many underused talents, and suggesting a career beyond Star Wars for Hayden Christensen. ***** / *****.