Caught a screening of "Lions for Lambs" last night in Westwood. It was a thrill to see Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise at the top of their games as a reporter and U.S. Senator, respectively. We get to be a fly on the wall in a one-hour interview as the senator tries to sell a new military operation to the skeptical reporter.
I'll say this about Streep, a woman who has been nominated for an Academy Award a record 14 times and, somehow, has only won twice and not since 19i83 for "Sophie's Choice." She will get another Oscar nod for her performance here which was perfect down to every little detail such as note-taking and just the weariness she lets us see as she sits in the chair in the senator's lobby, then later has a showdown with her editor. She goes toe-to-toe with the charismatic Cruise character in the movie's best scenes and helps elevate him to his best work since "Magnolia." It's nice to see Tom Cruise, actor, instead of Tom Cruise, superstar. You just could not take your eyes off of Cruise and I enjoyed the hell out of both performances.
Even though Streep is top-billed with Robert Redford, her co-star in the wonderful "Out of Africa" more than 20 years ago, they share no scenes together here. Redford plays a university professor in California trying to inspire a young and promising student - the same way her inspired two earlier students who, to his horror, enlisted to serve in the military and are sent on a mission to Afghanistan. It's taking place at the same time as the Cruise-Streep interview and the Redford meeting with the student which ties the movie together and really makes you think about the war, our current administration, and the price paid.