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The Bush Guard scandal refers to the controversy around George W. Bush’s questionable service in the US Air National Guard in the 1970s, and its coverage by the CBS 60 Minutes programme shortly before Bush’s 2005 re-election. Truth is based on the memoir of 60 Minutes producer, Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett), and recounts her struggles as she faces increasing scrutiny over the authenticity of memos detailing Bush’s time in the National Guard. Robert Redford plays iconic news anchor Dan Rather, a father figure to Mary (whose own father wasn’t up to much). The rest of the investigative team is made up of veteran Lt. Colonel Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid), plucky young researcher Mike Smith (Topher Grace), and Lucy Scott (Elizabeth Moss), who’s brought in to “run point”, but has approximately five lines in the entire film.

The film adeptly conveys the pitfalls of news reporting, and the evolution of news media into a politically influenced, corporate machine. Real television footage is cleverly used to set the mood of America on the eve of an election. Unfortunately, there aren’t many other redeeming features to speak of. Truth is written and directed by James Vanderbilt, who brought us the screenplays for The Amazing Spiderman films and White House Down. This strives to reach equally dramatic heights, but doesn’t get there.

The most obvious flaw is the script. With the exception of a few well-delivered emotional outbursts, the actors relay unrealistic, melodramatic and clichéd statements throughout. Lines such as “they’re coming for us” should be reserved for describing armies of Orcs in Middle Earth, not bands of lawyers in Manhattan. Little is left for the viewer to figure out on their own. The symbolic resonance of Mary fighting against the “slap” of the Network under the lingering impact of her father’s beatings is spelled out for us several times. On top of this, the overuse of slow motion, along with a dramatic score by Brian Tyler (Rambo, Avengers, Iron Man), makes Truth the opposite of its recent and superior competitor, Spotlight – a sensationalised telling of an underwhelming story.