Movie Breakdown: Worth

Pre-Screening Stance:

Worth looks like the sort of film that will have me teary-eyed throughout its entire runtime, but I don’t suppose that’s something to really look forward to. So, instead, I’ll just toss a nod its way for the interesting, timely premise and talented cast.

Post-Screening Ramble:

If you’ve seen the trailer for Worth, then you’ve pretty much seen the film. Michael Keaton plays Ken Feinberg, a guy tasked with leading the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Ken has to assign a value per life lost, so he comes up with a formula to do so. However, once he gets into the process and actually meets people, he becomes very aware that each case is different and can’t be handled in such a cold, general manner.

In a lot of ways, Worth feels like the CliffsNotes of this real life story – there’s a little on Ken, a little on the formula he comes up with, a little on his opposers (namely Stanley Tucci’s Charles Wolf), and a little on the process once Ken shifts to a more personal touch per case. In other words, the details here are light, which is too bad because I do think the film would have benefited from more information and reasoning, as it would have helped to better highlight the pressure on Ken and his firm to get the VCF right. Instead Worth just sort of floats along, shows you the 30,000 foot view, and then it ends. Maybe this should have been a mini-series.

Worth is a little long at two hours and it doesn’t quite provide as much insight as I would have liked to have seen, but otherwise, it’s fine. Just be prepared to want to google more info after it wraps. The film will open on Netflix tomorrow, September 3.

One Last Thought:

Weirdly, this movie makes for a nice double feature with Spotlight, which also stars Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci.