Boston Strangler – Review
112 Minutes, Rated R
Written and Directed by Matt Ruskin
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below then listen as he and Ryan discuss the film in more detail. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Loretta McLaughlin was the reporter who first connected the murders and broke the story of the Boston Strangler. She and Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city’s most notorious serial killer.
The Boston Strangler case is one of the earliest high-profile cases in the United States. Sure, we eventually got Zodiac and Son of Sam, but the Strangler felt different at the time.
The investigation into the Strangler wouldn’t even have happened if not for the insight by Loretta McLaughlin, who realized there was a bigger story than even a serial killer: the police were bungling the investigation.
Exposing the incompetence/near-corruption of the Boston Police Department of the day, all while more effectively investigating possible suspects than they were, McLaughlin and fellow journalist Jean Cole changed the face of crime reporting and, not to put to fine a point on it, saved a city.
Kiera Knightly and Carrie Coon give first-rate performances here, ones I hope people keep in mind for the next 10 months when awards season ramps back up. I found the narrative and presentation of investigative journalism in Boston Strangler to be more compelling than the recent She Said. McLaughlin and Cole are identifiable, compelling, and carry the audience with them as they doggedly pursue every lead to get the story, and ultimately the truth.
The depth of the script into both the killings and the investigation, along with McLaughlin’s personal/professional struggles as a female reporter, are at the heart of the narrative, and the ultimate revelations of guilt or innocence only underscore what McLaughlin and Cole uncover.
Boston Strangler hits Hulu on March 17 and stars Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, Rory Cochrane, and David Dastmalchian.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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