Trumbo (****1/2)

There's a small but funny moment in "Trumbo" when the title author, blacklisted for being a Communist, is found nominated for an Oscar for a screenplay penned under a false name: Robert Rich. Dalton Trumbo sits around with some others and discuss who would even go up to accept the award should he win. "Don't worry," a producer says, "it's not that good of a script anyways." The moment finally comes, and Trumbo along with his family watch as his screenplay for "The Brave One" in fact wins the award. A producer goes to the stage to accept it on the writer's behalf, and it disappears. Will he ever get his hands on the prize at all?

So goes "Trumbo," a wildly fun and intriguing movie about a group of screenwriters billed as the 'Hollywood 10,' movie makers deemed unable to work in Hollywood due to their involvement with the Communist Party. Does that stop them from working? Of course not! Through schemes and pen names and various means, the authors develop a literal black market of smuggling and drafting movie scripts for production at various studios. Most everyone in Hollywood knows it's them, but since the pictures are good, who's to care?

Bryan Cranston delivers in perhaps his first major leading role. Moustached, wise, witty, and engulfed in a constant cloud of cigarette smoke, Trumbo is presented as an unassuming hero that cares more about supporting his family then winning name recognition and prizes. The challenges build as his work load increases and the threat of losing a job become more hazardous. Locked away in his office or typing away in his tub (18 hour work days, at one point), Trumbo goes gray and frail but never loses his passion for the movies.

Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren), on the other hand, is presented as the one consistent 'villain' through it all. A former actress turned gossip columnist, she pokes around attempting to uncover the truth if only to boost her readership. She's not one to stand by convictions, but since anti-Communism is all the rage, naturally she must hop on board. Mirren's is a fun, quick, and memorable performance, but does little to upstage Cranston, whose presence on screen we take for granted for being so absolutely believable.

There has been a surge of 'movies about movies,' and the one I most vividly recall is "Argo," another story of the power of Hollywood to save the day in the end. While that film was without doubt a bit more optimistic in it's message, I found "Trumbo" to be even a bit more inventive; more grounded in the reality of such a situation. We all knew Ben Affleck would get the hostages on the plane in the end, but I felt genuinely concerned that Dalton Trumbo was on a track to die penniless and forgotten.

From 'Roman Holiday' to 'Spartacus,' Trumbo's career seemed to be on a never-ending incline after his return to public graces, and yet until the day he died he certainly carried around a bit of controversy. Drastically underpraised in his time and still an icon today, "Trumbo" succeeds at creating entertainment from a dark subject matter, and (though a fairly predictable screenplay in itself) delivers as a solid movie about a little known time in Hollywood history.