Big Picture Big Sound

A Crime A Dozen

In "True Story," Christian Longo insists he's been "decent and regular 92.88 percent of the time." For that other blip of time, however, he was off murdering his wife and three young children in Oregon. The film opens with a little girl laying in a suitcase and a teddy bear being dropped onto her immobile body. How darling.

Based on the 2006 book True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel, the story chronicles the time he spent with Longo (James Franco) during prison visits. Finkel (Jonah Hill) was a New York Times writer on his way to greatness until he fabricated a cover story on the African slave trade and smashed his credibility. They met because Longo had been using his name in Mexico before he was arrested for massacring his family. Why did he do this? Because he was a fan or wanted to orchestrate a meeting for when he was caught later on? One of many details never really explained in the movie.

Despite not completely coming together, "True Story" is an interesting film about a pair of dysfunctional men who forge a head-scratching bond. Finkel is ashamed of lying in an article and letting his ambition get the best of him, but then he decides to write a book and profit on a clearly-guilty man, which is arguably worse than his initial mishap. Longo ping-pongs between charm and flat affect, storing quips and tricks where his empathy should be.

While Hill and Franco are generally goofy together in movies and aiming for big laughs, here they are doing their best to don Serious Actor hats. Hill succeeds more as the asthmatic, flawed journalist than Franco does as the cold killer, though he pulls it off in moments. Felicity Jones is always superb but has little to do in "True Story." As Finkel's concerned girlfriend, she shrieks her mind at Longo once in jail, and that's about it.

Rupert Goold's movie will leave you feeling uncomfortable and wondering what these men saw in each other or why they stayed in touch all these years. The psychology of their relationship is the most-compelling true story on display, more than the murders and the courtroom showdowns, but it never gets the full treatment. This is "Capote"-lite at best.