That tonal whiplash is clearly what director Sarah Colangelo and writer Max Borenstein intend, as Worth<\/em> follows Feinberg\u2019s appointment as the Special Master in charge of the 9\/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg\u2019s initial quest is to appease as many people as possible while remaining impartial, and the film takes him from a well-intentioned but harsh mouthpiece of bureaucracy to a crusading and kind-hearted man of the people. Helping him make that transition is activist Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), who lost his wife in the attacks and scoffs at Feinberg\u2019s proposed compensation plan for being too unfair and inconsiderate. Both Keaton and Tucci are excellent as two men coming at the same problem from different sides who nevertheless respect each other, making most of Worth<\/em> into a legal drama that sees relatable people attempt to solve an impossible problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That problem \u2014 how to fairly assist all the thousands of bereaved families of the victims \u2014 still has not been fully solved in real life, so the film has no hope of providing any concise solution itself, and it knows it. As a result, the movie attempts to reconcile heavy material (like all those confessionals) with a rousing \u201cman-against-the-clock\u201d drama, and the end result is as messy and confused as that sounds. Colangelo and Borenstein have juggled disparate elements before \u2014 her films like The Kindergarten Teacher<\/em> (2018) and Little Accidents<\/em> (2014) handled dark material with some nuance, and Borenstein\u2019s infusion of real-world traumas into the scripts he co-wrote for Universal\u2019s \u201cMonsterVerse\u201d films (especially 2014\u2019s Godzilla<\/em>) gave those movies a pleasingly deeper resonance than one might\u2019ve expected. Here, though, their collective focus is off \u2014 the film has a few remarkably grounded and harrowing scenes that are placed right next to awkward, clunky, TV-procedural-drama moments, the type where characters spout exposition or conveniently overhear plot points or nakedly state their thematic intention. Structurally and tonally, Colangelo and Borenstein seem to be throwing everything they can at the film in order to see what sticks, and some of those attempts fall flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, the film\u2019s cast smooths over a lot of the movie\u2019s issues, making Worth<\/em> a compelling watch, at least. In addition to Keaton and Tucci, Amy Ryan does a remarkable job as Feinberg\u2019s right hand Camille Biros, and her subplot is the most successful of all the subplots in the movie. Tate Donovan is suitably slimy without being too caricatured as a lawyer representing the higher income victims of 9\/11, and Shunori Ramanathan gives the movie its much-needed Everywoman. Colangelo keeps her framing in Classic Hollywood mode, letting this cast take the reins for the most part, but she also works in some compelling images, such as Feinberg standing in front of his massive CD collection, revealing his wealth as well as the more compassionate man that lurks inside his tough exterior.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the course of the film, Feinberg and his firm\u2019s crusade is presented with increasingly Capra-esque moments, culminating in a last-minute outpouring of goodwill that would\u2019ve easily fit into It\u2019s A Wonderful Life <\/em>(1946). It\u2019s all very sweet and likable, but the movie\u2019s introduction of so many disparate elements and raising of questions it can\u2019t or won\u2019t answer leaves such crowd-pleasing victories feeling more hollow than satisfying. Ultimately, like its protagonist, Worth<\/em> can\u2019t quite reconcile such a massive, complex issue. Its only answer to that central question of what life\u2019s worth is is yet another question: \u201cIs that it?\u201d (Screened at the Sundance Film Festival)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n B-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Worth begins with a lighthearted, dynamic, Aaron Sorkin-esque scene that sees lawyer Ken Feinberg (Michael Keaton) introducing his class to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":13226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1416,1381,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-festivals","category-movies","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n1 hr., 58 min; not yet rated<\/em>\u00a0<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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