I’ve been forced to take another look at Spotlight, a movie that I really liked and admired, but in which I incorrectly found a flaw. I didn’t like Mark Ruffalo’s performance as the real life Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes. Ruffalo plays Rezendes as high-strung, intensely fidgety and perpetually restless. I wrote:
“Ruffalo has the most showy part, as a frenetic and volatile reporter, and his scenery-chewing put me off.
But then I played some poker. It turns out that several guys in my monthly poker game KNOW Michael Rezendes from his time with a Bay Area newspaper. They report that, in Spotlight, Ruffalo completely captured Rezendes’ characteristics and persona. So my initial criticism of Ruffalo’s performance for his nervous demeanor was as valid as criticizing Anthony Hopkins for playing Hitler as too evil.
As a result, I’m taking Spotlight up a notch higher in my own rankings, and I’m pretty sure it will end up on my Best of the Year list.