"Sure hope none of these reporters figure out I killed Laura Palmer."

George Clooney dramatizes – kind of – one of television journalism’s proudest moments in Good Night, and Good Luck. The story of how Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly and their team at CBS news took on fanatical anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy is legendary, and the courage and integrity he and his team showed seems even more admirable in these days when TV news often seems more concerned with ratings than with truth and more inclined to toss softball questions at politicians than to hold them accountable for their actions.

Good Night, and Good Luck has a lot going for it, chiefly David Strathairn doing a spot-on impression of the on-air Murrow while also giving us a glimpse at the man he was off-camera. That man, according to the movie, was brilliant and blunt with a dry wit and a keen eye, a man who cared about those around him but more often than not held them at arms length. It’s a restrained, subtle performance and really fascinating. I also liked Clooney as Murrow’s long-time producer Fred Friendly and Ray Wise as a fellow newsman who doesn’t handle bad reviews quite as philosophically as Murrow does.

Working in authentic 1950s black and white, director Clooney gives his film a newsy kind of matter-of-factness. To a certain extent this works; I particularly like how he uses actual footage of McCarthy instead of casting an actor to play him. Like Murrow did, he lets the Senator’s own words condemn him. Ultimately, though, I think the movie’s dry tone works against it. I guess I’m glad Clooney didn’t try to artificially amp up the drama, but the movie is dispassionate to the point of being uninvolving. This story has always held a bit of a fascination for me, but Clooney’s less-than-gripping version left me wondering if it really needed to be a movie.

Gorilla Pants rating: 2 out of 4 bananas