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Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria ... see more see more... , Steve Zahn , Rosario Dawson , Cas Anvar , Ted Kotcheff , Mark Blum , Simon Elise Girard , Chad E. Donella , Jamie Elman , Luke Kirby , Russell Yuen , James Berlingieri

Before Jayson Blair made headlines for his plagiarized New York Times reporting, Stephen Glass defamed the weekly current events magazine The New Republic with a series of eye-catching, entertaining, ... read more read more...and completely fabricated stories. Now Glass' trail of lies gets the big-screen treatment in writer/director Billy Ray's Shattered Glass, featuring Hayden Christensen in the title role. The film chronicles Glass' time at the magazine in the late '90s, when his colorful coverage of a hedonistic Young Republican convention, superstar web hackers, and the circus surrounding the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal made him the toast of the publishing world, garnering attention from such national publications as George and Rolling Stone. Barely out of college, the eager Glass ingratiates himself with the office staff, including his mentor, managing editor Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria). But when Kelly is unceremoniously fired and replaced with editor Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard), Glass' pieces come under a greater degree of scrutiny, until one in particular threatens to expose his tall tales to the rest of the world. Based in part on a Vanity Fair article by journalist Buzz Bissinger, Shattered Glass premiered at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals before its limited fall theatrical release. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

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76% liked it

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91% liked it

164 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Billy Ray

Release Date: October 31, 2003

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DVD Release Date: March 23, 2004

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Flixster Reviews (1,393)

  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    January 8, 2012
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Read between the lies."

    The true story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was found he had fabricated over half of his articles.

    REVIEW

    A fascinating glimpse into the brain of ... read morea sociopath, all the more interesting as it's based on real events from 1997. Christensen has the lead role as the so-called journalist Glass, a far cry from his Anakin character of "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith." He hides behind a pair of thick glasses and adopts a strange, sickeningly sweet persona that, of course, hides a manipulative psychotic. That's the trick the actor manages to pull off - he has to get the audience to believe in and understand both sides of the character. A chronic liar, his fabrications become so involved and complex that they in themselves form a fascinating thread in the story. Most of Glass's tales have a small kernel of truth, but the majority is all made up. So he invents additional bogus material and fake evidence to back up the original fabrications, such as websites & voice-mails. It's like seeing a whole separate made up world created and co-existing with ours, all springing from Glass's warped mind.

    Glass also reminds me of more dangerous social misfits, such as serial killers, so a couple of scenes towards the end especially carry an extra chill. When Glass is found out, another interesting process which unravels his lies, Christensen shows us he really worked out the character. His desperation and seeming despair is alarming to behold and fits in with the character we saw in the first half of the film. The detective work done by Steve Zahn's character to begin finding out what's untrue is also very interesting to observe, and then Glass's own editor (Sarsgaard), new on the job, follows up on the groundwork laid out to finally deduce what has sort of been in front of them the whole time. Sarsgaard, a very good actor, is a standout juggling new pressures, mixed feelings and finally resolve to get at the truth. The film captured the real truth of what happened back then, based on what we can see of the real Glass on the "60 Minutes" interview.
  • itsjustme2004
    October 14, 2010
    itsjustme2004
    What a really great movie! This is based on the true story of a guy who pulled the wool over the eyes of his employers for a long time. This was a very, very interesting story.
  • imrealgod
    April 14, 2010
    imrealgod
    Would've made it to my faves list had it not been for its sloppy execution & poor acting by the lead actor.
  • SirPant
    September 16, 2009
    SirPant
    Based on true events, Shattered Glass is a fantastic drama that flew well under the radar on its release. Christensen and Sarsgaard put in the best performances of their careers so far. Recommended!
  • Gx7
    July 23, 2009
    Gx7
    1998: Stephen Glass worked for The New Republic Magazine. He was the youngest staff member of a team that was composed of 15 journalists/editors.

    He wrote articles that entertained people, made them laugh, and raised the eyebrows of those that he'd written about. He attr... read moreacted a lot of attention, and was very much liked by his co-workers. Until Forbes stepped in and asked for his sources for "Hack Heaven."

    "The in-flight magazine of Air Force One... and their star goes out and gets completely snowed by a bunch of hackers?! "


    Pretty interesting since it happened in real life, Ive seen way too many "prestigious" newspapers having incorrect info on their articles, or glossied up facts, but fiction after fiction, printed out as fact? Hey, you only get that from tabloids right? You cant possibly get those on political magazines and newspapers! Guess again!

    Theres some intense drama here, awesome shouting scenes, perfect acting, even the blinking of the eyes for when youre lying is taken into consideration, the office scenes were the ones that I could really relate to, the good boss, the stiff boss, the clown, the tough chic, the suck up. It was all very easy to sink into. And damn, what a way to ruin a career!

    Other movie info: Won 10 awards, including best actor, supporting actor and a special recognition for excellence in film making. (2003-2004)

    Director: Billy Ray
    Genre: Adaptation, Drama

    Rewatchability: 3/5 Stars
    Highly Recommended for Yuppies!
  • ceWEBrity
    February 21, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    I really, really hated this movie for the first half hour, but only because I misunderstood it. For that, I blame both myself and the marketing - if you read the back of the DVD case, this movie is trying to make Hayden Christensen sound like some sort of victim to political scan... read moredal or whatever, and thus I was led to believe by the first act of the movie that he was supposed to be a likable character. I wasn't buying it and it was frustrating me that the movie was trying to sell him as such. I read him for a smarmy little shit, and behold! That was exactly what he turns out to be. I was so proud of myself.

    This may also have to do with Christensen's performance. This is the movie that his deluded fans tell everyone is a testament to his acting abilities, but you know what? He still sucks. It's bad enough that the only character he knows how to play is a whiny one, but when he has to add some sort of dimension to it, it fails miserably! He doesn't have an ounce of comic timing in his body - the scenes where he's telling his coworkers jokes and making them laugh are completely, totally unconvincing. It is in spite of Christensen, not because of him, that this movie works.

    Fortunately, his costars all manage to overshadow him. Peter Sarsgaard is awesome, Chloe Sevigny is intense and Steve Zahn is memorable in a very small role. Even Rosario Dawson, with maybe ten lines, steals the show. And this talented cast has a great script to work with. It's trim, informative and clever; a crash course in Corrupt Journalism 101.

    Shattered Glass is a good movie. Hayden Christensen kept it from being a great one. Too bad.
  • tsigur
    November 3, 2007
    tsigur
    Hits on all cylinders.
  • kiriyamakazou
    April 14, 2007
    kiriyamakazou
    This film is damn awesome. Shoots by well quickly and is suitable for multiple viewings. It quite frankly just rocks. Sarsgaard is an acting revelation, and the script is perfect. Revealing information bit by bit.
  • michaelneumann
    January 8, 2004
    michaelneumann
    Awesome flick. Great performances from Hayden Christensen (gasp) and Peter Sarsgaard. Very cool to see a movie capture the journalism process so intensely. Definitely one of the year's best.

    Also...


    [indent][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/tomatoes/small_fresh.gif... read more[/img] [color=white]..[/color]6/10 Movie: [url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheCooler-1127399/"]The Cooler (2003)[/url]
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/tomatoes/small_fresh.gif[/img] [color=white]..[/color]8/10 Movie: [url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Monster-1128647/reviews.php"]Monster (2003)[/url]

    [/indent]

    Goin' to a nice sushi restaurant this weekend when my friend flies in. That should be cool (haven't had sushi in a few months). Umm...anybody had any great food lately? If so, what was it? :p
  • crossbladezero
    December 9, 2011
    crossbladezero
    Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard finally face off in a grand, tense and long anticipated clash to resolve the question that everyone wants - nay - needs to know: who has the more obnoxious voice? Man, of all the times Sarsgaard could have calmed his emotional self down. I m... read moreean, don't get me wrong, he's a heck of an emoter, but really, there's a reason why he wasn't the "main" character in "Boys Don't Cry"; and no it's not because Hilary Swank looks more like a man than him; that's just a coincidence. Still, as great as he is when he's acting with full force and no subtlety, it's great to see Sarsgaard play this powerful role with subtlety and gra-I'm sorry, I just can't finish that statement, because I'm not totally prepared to shake an award at his clearly-going-to-get-large-with-age nose like everyone and their grandmother is doing; which isn't to say that he's not good, because he is still pretty darn good in this film; but if there's any kind of emotional resonance to be found towards the end of the film, then it can be found at the point where Hayden Christensen - of all people - is outacting Pete Sarsgaard; and you know you've reached a new low when Hayden Christens-I'm sorry, I just can't finish that statement either. Take all the shots you want, judgemental "Star Wars" geeks (*cough*ori*cough*ginals*cough*over*cough*rated*cough*), but I actually think that son of a mountie is actually pretty good; and clearly I'm not the only one who thinks that, considering that he got a nod from the Golden Globes for "Life as a House"; but then again, they gave Pete Sarsgaard a nod for this film, so what do they know? Well, certainly still more than the Oscars now-a-days. But seriously though, as great as Christensen and apparently Sarsgaard are, not even they can edit out the mistakes in this here article.

    Among the most damaging things in this film is in the department where it all but counts the most: the early acts. True, the hook is slick, appealing and generally great, but that only makes the sudden and drastic drop in compellingness that much harder to accept. The earlier acts of the film are non-linear, and that would be great and all were it not for a long series of expendable, sometimes repetative scenes and the slowness landing a heavy blow to your engagement and by extension, your teather to the non-linear narrative; leaving the film the get quite convoluted early on. Sure, the narrative smooths out as the film progresses, but by that time, you're a little too far out of the film; and it doesn't help that the unengaging slowness is still there to all but keep you out all together; and when your film is one big mystery, you can't afford to do that; nor can you afford to be predictable like this film gets to be. If you're going to make some major missteps like that, then you better have your strengths at the ready to pull you back in every time you get knocked out. Well, sure enough, although it's too late for this story to fix its mistakes, there's still enough strength to this piece to keep you reading.

    The film's compellingness is a very slow rise, but when Billy Ray's storytelling picks up, it takes off, keeping the film fascinating, as well as tense. Sadly, that tension only comes in because of the predictability of the film, but really, it's a dream accomplishment when you can exploit the predictability of a film to set tension and keep the audience invested, rather than bored as a story unravels to the foreseen point. For this investment, we not only have Billy Ray to thank, but his cast of humanly diverse and colorful performers, all of whom keep you going with some snappy dialogue when there's nothing for them to do dramatically. However, when the story does unravel, the performers really drive things home, particularly a not terribly stellar, but still smoothly subtle Peter Sarsgaard and, of course, leading man Hayden Christensen. Sure, he's playing Hayden Christensen again, but that kind of dorky, yet snappy charm fits the role like a glove and completely convinces you of all the hype surrounding Stephen Glass. Both he and Sarsgaard are a dream team when it comes to setting tense, compelling chemistry; and as their relationship - and the film with it - comes to a head, you're glued to the screen, not caring who outacting who (*cough*Chris*tensen*cough*great*cough*); you're just wondering how it all came to this point and who you should feel for. Even in the home stretch, it's Christensen that comes out on top, setting a subtle, yet powerful tone that leaves you with many questions and much shock as he, alongside director Billy Ray, carry the powerful compellingness that makes the ending so incredible and a perfect, neatly tight wrap-up to this ultimately thought-provoking tale, particularly at the applause sequence at the end, which is one heck of an example of a soft-spoken, but strongly palpable definative capper, as it leaves you in dead silent awe as the film completely defines itself and leaves you with more than enough to chew on.

    Somewhere in gothic literature heaven, Nathaniel Hawthorne is smiling as I say that this film suffers from often unengaging slowness, caused by a momentarily convoluted, yet consistently overpacked narrative that's made worse by predictability; but as the story unravels, director Billy Ray makes up for that predictability with compellingness that is further carried by colorful performances, especially that of leading man Hayden Christensen, who's strong embodyment of the notorious journalist and tensely fascinating acting dance with Peter Sarsgaard leave "Shattered Glass" to stand as a - as said best by the short, sweet and to the point consensus - "compelling look at Stephen Glass' fall from grace."

    3/5 - Good

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Critic Reviews

Peter Howell
November 28, 2003
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Does a superb job in presenting four of the five journalistic 'Ws' of its story: the who, what, where and when. It fails, however, on the essential 'why' of the tale. Full Review

Rick Groen
November 28, 2003
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

What are we to learn from this? Not the broad lesson that every line of work has its share of charlatans: The script is way too pious to swallow such a generic pill. And not anything important about G... Full Review

Roger Moore
November 26, 2003
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

A sober, wry and often riveting account of an infamous moment in journalism. Full Review

Joe Baltake
November 21, 2003
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Shattered Glass has the skill and power to make you squirm. Full Review

Wesley Morris
November 14, 2003
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Smart about good vs. evil. Full Review

Robert Denerstein
November 14, 2003
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

Excels at the kind of straight-ahead storytelling that's both involving and satisfying.

Michael Booth
November 14, 2003
Michael Booth, Denver Post

A good movie about a real-life problem journalist that unfortunately has almost nothing to do with journalism's real-life problems. Full Review

Terry Lawson
November 14, 2003
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Not only an honest depiction of one journalist's rampant dishonesty but a compelling movie by just about any standard. Full Review

Eric Harrison
November 13, 2003
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

It's funny and gripping, a story about people that also happens to be about journalistic principle. Full Review

Tom Long
November 13, 2003
Tom Long, Detroit News

It's a thoughtful, well-paced look at one pathetic kid's lies, and our equally pathetic willingness to accept them as truth.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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  • WhicH actor acted in shattered glass and star wars ?  Answer »
  • Who am I, and in what movie did I play the role as Stephen Glass, a reporter for the "New Republic" in the 90's who Pathologically lied his way to the top?  Answer »
  • Peter Sarsgaard starred in "Boys Don't Cry" with Chloe Sevigny. What other movie did these two star in together?  Answer »
  • This actor has starred in "Life as a House", "Shattered Glass", "Star Wars: Episode II" and "Star Wars: Episode III". Who is he?  Answer »
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