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Shattered Glass
Lions Gate Films Inc.

Shattered Glass  reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 73 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.8 out of 10
based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language, sexual references and brief drug use

Starring Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny, Melanie Lynskey, Steve Zahn, Hank Azaria, Rosario Dawson, and Luke Kirby

A study of a very talented - and at the same time very flawed - character. It is also a look inside our culture's noblest profession, one that protects our most precious freedoms by revealing the truth, and what happens when our trust in that profession is called into question. (Lions Gate Films)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Billy Ray
Buzz Bissinger (article)
 
DIRECTED BY: Billy Ray  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 23, 2004 
Video: March 23, 2004 
Theatrical: October 31, 2003 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Presents Glass as a masterfully corrupt fabulist who convinced himself of the ultimate seductive lie, which is that there can't be anything wrong with telling people what they want to hear.
Read Full Review
100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
All give heartfelt, unflashy performances that help make Shattered Glass one of the season's most thoughtful offerings.
Read Full Review
100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A moral, not a moralistic, movie. It's also a bracing aesthetic achievement, creating a fictional version of a factual case that illuminates as it entertains.
Read Full Review
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The sharpest journalism thriller I've seen in years: an absolutely riveting drama that doesn't glorify its subject in the slightest and shrewdly says a lot of very sad things about the state of modern journalism.
Read Full Review
90
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The interplay between Glass and Lane is riveting and rigorous.
Read Full Review
90
Newsweek David Ansen
Writer-director Ray has a no-fuss style that is quietly, thoroughly gripping.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times Dana Stevens
An astute and surprisingly gripping drama not only about the ethics of magazine writing, but also, more generally, about the subtle political and psychological dynamics of modern office culture.
Read Full Review
88
USA Today Mike Clark
You get the sense that there's probably more to the story than you get here. But the movie's moral will soon be indelible: You just can't fake it in the Internet age.
Read Full Review
88
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Against very steep odds, writer-director Billy Ray and company have, in telling the real-life story of fictionalizing "New Republic" writer Stephen Glass and his downfall, produced the most entertaining inside-journalism movie since "All the President's Men."
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is smart about journalism because it is smart about offices; the typical newsroom is open space filled with desks, and journalists are actors on this stage; to see a good writer on deadline with a big story is to watch not simply work but performance.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
In a sense, Shattered Glass is a parenthetical horror movie in which someone discovers (or worse, denies) the monster within themselves.
Read Full Review
80
Film Threat Clint Morris
Whilst not an A grade psychological profile by any means, Ray has still crafted a meticulously enjoyable film. It’s as gripping as it is disturbing, and as well performed as it is mysterious.
Read Full Review
80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A smart, suspenseful drama, starring Hayden Christensen, that honors its own factual roots as no movie about journalists has done since "All the President's Men."
80
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
What is a most pleasant surprise is how emotionally involving a story writer-director Billy Ray has fashioned, how he's turned Shattered Glass into a film for anyone who cares about strong drama.
Read Full Review
80
Empire William Thomas
Gripping, claustrophobic drama.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
By retelling Glass' pathetic tale, Shattered Glass reminds you how our culture's emphasis on success and stardom in any field -- and the betrayal of ethics to attain them -- has a cumulative, corrosive effect on society, no matter how small the stage may be.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
May be light when it comes to psychological questions, but its detailed accounting of Glass' actions makes for fascinating viewing.
Read Full Review
75
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The film never digs deep enough into the pressures on Glass from his family, his peers and himself to achieve psychological depth. But as an inside look into the hothouse of journalism, it's dynamite.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Quite entertaining.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
An impressively compelling film.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Shattered Glass, with its dumb title, is smart about good vs. evil. Incidentally, the good is Lane, who now works at The Washington Post and was a consultant on this picture.
Read Full Review
75
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The issues the film raises are truly profound and discomfiting whether you work in the media or just consume it.
Read Full Review
70
Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
Scrupulously accurate, sometimes-tedious account of Stephen Glass' malfeasance.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Given recent similar incidents of young con artists posing as journalists, this is a timely and compelling film, but I wish the filmmakers had widened their focus to address the kinds of journalistic corruption that go beyond simple fibbing.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Todd McCarthy
Credibly and absorbingly relates the tale of journalistic fraud perpetrated by young writer Stephen Glass at the New Republic five years back.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Although the substance could have used more visual style, Ray tells an uncluttered story and draws strong performances from his actors.
Read Full Review
70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Shattered Glass simply sinks its teeth into a juicy story, never better than when Sarsgaard methodically paints the sniveling Christensen into a corner.
Read Full Review
70
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Far and away the strongest performance in Shattered Glass is Peter Sarsgaard’s.
Read Full Review
70
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Smart, tightly coiled.
Read Full Review
70
TV Guide Ken Fox
It's almost inconceivable how Glass could have gotten away with so much, but the movie makes a convincing case for how Glass used office politics, the good faith of his editors and his own personal charisma to get away with the worst offenses a journalist could commit.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
The sheer loathesomeness of protagonist Stephen Glass as portrayed by Hayden Christensen makes Shattered Glass hard to watch.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Fails on a couple of levels. It never really gives you a sense of the psychology, the root causes behind Glass' elaborate frauds... And since we don't know the why, the how becomes considerably less interesting.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The makers of Shattered Glass ignore this obvious give-and-take reality, and substitute the hoary myth that, save for the odd lying devil, the free press is a bastion of the gospel truth. Even here, then, the facts get shaped to fit the theme. Ironically, had they not, it would have made for a helluva better story.
Read Full Review
60
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Writer-director Billy Ray is so eager to be fair-minded about everything and everyone that you can't help thinking he's a patsy, too. If he directed a movie of Othello, he'd probably try to make us feel warm and fuzzy about poor, misunderstood Iago.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice J. Hoberman
The Sarsgaard slow burn is only marginally more compelling than the Christensen simper; like its subject, the movie is self-important yet insipid.
Read Full Review
50
The New Yorker Anthony Lane
As a whole, Shattered Glass is carefully constructed, intently played, and shot with creepy calm. It is also, by a considerable margin, the most ridiculous movie I have seen this year. [3 November 2003, p. 104]
50
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It irks the ink out of me to see Lane exalted as a hero for doing what any responsible editor would do, then being paid to consult on his own canonization.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Uses a wraparound story to provide a hint of Glass’ deep-seated pathology, but allows no details about how it came into being.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Cheryl C. gave it an 8:
Intelligent, current true-life drama. Thought the 69 Metascore looked low, and wonder just how that weighting works! Lots of critics really liked it. I did too...

Ben A. gave it a 9:
This was such an awesome story. I was really drawn in. The best element of this movie is trying to figure out when Glass is lying and telling the truth. This had some awesome acting, all around. This movie was one of the few where I actually noticed how skilled the film editor was. If for nothing else, see this movie for the editing.

Rick H. gave it a 10:
Best movie of the year. Hands down. The acting is excellent but most importantly, the storyline is a true story, and it is this basis that makes it possibly the most fascinating storyline you will experience at the movies this year.

Marsha T. gave it a 10:
This movie is truly a diamond in the rough. Relying on dialogue- and only dialogue- to bring the story of Stephen Glass to life, Shattered Glass is genuine and gloriously free of all the pretenses typically associated with Hollywood blockbusters. Shines through in a year when overrated movie stars, violence, and sex have been relied upon to bolster otherwise lifeless films. The acting is noteworthy, too. Sarsgaard delivers a believable performance worthy of Oscar contention. Shattered Glass is, without a doubt, way above the cut.

Scut F. gave it a 10:
One of the most engrossing movies this year; all done without extraordinarily flashy characters, quick cuts, obligatory sex, explosions or gun fire. Just a true story told well. I've seen maybe 4 or 5 exceptional films this year, and "Shattered Glass" was one of them (which name, by the way, works).

Eileen gave it a 9:
The movie is good. The ending and title are not.

Chad S. gave it a 9:
Hayden Christensen is very good as Stephen Glass, but he fails to make him likable. We don't see what his colleagues see. What Christensen has done, however, is create a character that we love to hate. "Shattered Glass" would've been a triumph if we felt sympathy for the devil when his editor fires him. But this is an exciting, must-see film. It's clear to us that Glass believed his own lies, in scenes where he places himself in the fiction with pen and pad, scribbling notes, in which he refers to when trying to prove the veracity of his story. Glass is a sick man, so sick, he daydreams about the validation of his prefabricated stories. "Shattered Glass" is almost the best movie of 2003.

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