Deadline

I found this movie to be really good. I am a fan of Eric Roberts, which was why I wanted to watch it to begin with. It's sad that it's based on a true story, but a story that needed to be told.

"Deadline" could have been a near-great film, but the script, acting, and particularly the music and pacing were all badly done. This is the best illustration I've ever seen that any movie needs to have a beginning, a middle and and ending, if only for the purpose of building the dramatic tension needed to propel the story to its conclusion. The rock songs that were heard intermittently throughout did absolutely nothing to set the mood or tone, amounting instead to an annoying distraction. One has to wonder how any newspaper short of the New York Times could afford to pay two reporters to work primarily on obituaries, as apparently was the case with the two male protagonists (Eric Roberts and Steve Talley). The scene in which an inept deputy is drugged is utterly bizarre and unbelievable. It is hardly likely that a young cub reporter could afford a sports car (I was unable to recognize the make or model) that would typically cost upwards of $40,000. The courtroom scene near the end is a prime example of self-indulgent use of dramatic license that could have been avoided in the hands of a better screenwriter. Various other set-ups, which I'll not describe as they might be considered "spoilers," simply didn't ring true, again probably the product of hurried, poorly-vetted screen writing. Did anyone ever inform the screenwriter of this movie that the craft is labor-intensive, and it requires painstaking hours to eliminate the bugs from a plot? Am I sorry that I watched the movie? No. Does "Deadline" stand as further proof that the film industry, far from being any sort of meritocracy, is a dysfunctional system in which---despite all of the barriers that stand in the way of innovation and the infusion of new talent---consistently produces mediocre product? Absolutely. John Streby, attorney and novelist; jstreby003@comcast.net.

Yup it is pretty bad and its hard to figure how who is mostly at fault .. but I'm going to say the direction caused a lot of that stilted acting. We go from one scene to the next of conversation .. two people or three, standing or sitting, and giving either expositional dialogue ad infinitum, or right on the nose dialogue, which is just as boring. So, the accomplice to the murder of this film would go to the writer.

And if wouldn't it be great if actors, having been given such an awful script and such plodding direction, could at least try to find some way to work against the predictable and the stereotypical. If you can't, then try to find some charm in your character, something we'd like, or identify with.

As fellow reviewer "clashjam" pointed out, the previous (very positive) reviews surely must have been posted by people involved with this film. To compare this movie to "A Time To Kill" is only accurate in that they both cover a similar topic. That's where the similarities end.

The acting is appalling with the exception of a few minor characters who are given so little screen time that they didn't have a chance to be as horrible as everyone else.

The soundtrack/score is so painfully bad I have to believe that the musicians are related to someone involved in its development or funding. Or, the musicians helped fund the movie on the condition that their music was used.

If you haven't seen the movie "A Time To Kill" - watch it instead. If you have seen "A Time To Kill" - watch it again, instead.

I gave the movie two stars instead of 1 because Eric Roberts did have a few funny lines. I would have given it one star if zero was an option.

Dreadful, horrible, deplorable and extremely unpleasant. Those are just a few words that I would use to describe this movie. The fact that the incredible Eric Roberts is in this movie doesn't help one bit. For the first 20 minutes, the scenes that Roberts was in, all seemed like a cameo. Now for the acting. The acting wasn't bad...It was BEYOND bad. It made me think most of them just came out of a horrible high school play and then into this movie. And just what is with that boss of the newspaper? For those who haven't seen this movie yet, imagine the kid from Bad Santa. Now imagine him trying to be a very loud, mean and angry boss. That's what we got here. It just doesn't work! The soundtrack is very familiar. I know I heard it somewhere before.....Oh yeah, now I know. I heard it sometime during the 80's.