You don't have to run to this one. Rachel Weisz, as lovely intelligent Holocaust academic Deborah Lipstadt, is indignant and high-handed when Timothy Spall, as David Irving, says she can’t prove the Holocaust happened. She huffs and puffs at him, but in fact doesn't. When he sues her in London for defaming his reputation, she’s at sea, held up by her team of brilliant lawyers played by Andrew Scott and Tom Wilkinson--yum!
The film, based on a true story, glosses over questions including, how is this trial funded, who gets Deborah back and forth for the segments of the trial, does she have any friends other than the border collie who runs with her to the mailbox, what's her big interest in all this? If this is all answered, it's done too lightly to be noticed. Deborah is a nuisance, who complains more than she contributes to her case.
As the creepy Brit plaintiff, Spall is something like Walter Keane in Big Eyes, convinced of his power, making the case for something not true and not recognizing when he loses.
This well-meant film misses opportunities--undeniably.
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