It’s about time for visiting another contender for the golden dildos of Hollywood. Well, it was either that or I could just remark on how to waste a day playing video games while eating cheese toasties instead of, well, doing anything else. And after posting about the Ridiculous 6 the other day, anything surely would be better.

It’s all glitz and glamour up in this bitch!

Today’s epic true story toting tale comes in the form of Trumbo, a screenwriter having lovely fun among the Hollywoodies back in the day (starting at the end of the 1940s). Trumbo (whose name keeps conjuring up an elephant at the circus in my mind for some reason) spends time fighting for worker’s rights within the film industry and just also happens to be a member of the communist party in America.

Already you can see the problem with covering something like this that sparks the spider senses of meh from us, the viewing public; It’s a true story for the most part about someone who worked in Hollywood who had to suffer. The subject matter is such that you instantly think this will blow up up everyone’s arses in the industry and therefore makes everyone instantly want to fawn over it. Prime Oscar Bait for sure.

We see Brian Cranston with hair and no drug making apparatus starring as the troublesome screenwriter who is advising actors on what to say at certain points.He’s living the high life, a lovely family and a big middle finger of a pool next his big house. However only a couple of minutes in, you start seeing hate towards ol’ Trumbo with people in the biz. Seems they work with him, but don’t like it when he starts various arguments about fairness etc.

You want the truth? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

We start seeing who Trumbo has been hanging around with, buddies who are commies like him and also his lovely family, who are all hanging around having a pretty good life for the most part. However, this all starts to unravel when Congress continue their witch hunt and request everyone’s presence to testify that they are members of the communist party, something which bear in mind was not illegal at the time.

This was the most weird thing at the time, it wasn’t illegal as it was covered under the US constitution, yet Trumbo and his band of merry red men were pulled before a committee to testify. Trying to be clever and hoping to win the day at the US Supreme court afterwards, they were all answering questions but not yes or no as what the members of the committee wanted.

This didn’t work. It didn’t work as two judges on the Supreme Court who were liberal and were known for wanting the committee shut down, well, died.

In fact, most went to prison as a result. Cue Trumbo having fun with a black man who at first, would probably snap your neck just by looking at you, though he had reasons for being so jolly miffed. Also quite handy that in a scene, Trumbo sees the man who got him sent to prison, who ended up inside due to tax evasion. A sentence uttered said it all after the former US official said they were jailbirds together; “You’re the one who actually committed a crime.”

After prison, Trumbo and his mates are on a blacklist, meaning that no-one in the biz would ever hire them. So they hatch a plan to continue doing what they do, just using different names and working for those who didn’t give a flying f**k, like John Goodman.

Day is never finished, master got me workin… Some day master set me free….

As time goes on, tragedy occurs, people get suspicious and relationships are tested. It doesn’t help that Trumbo’s work as other people, gets awarded shiny shiny things too and he can’t take the credit as that’s the end of his livelihood. A couple of well placed people who needed his talents later, and didn’t give a crap about blacklistings and finally we see Trumbo give a full television interview revealing what he had done to all. Justice it seems had been done, with a speech given at an award ceremony, mainly about who had suffered.

So that’s the plot over with, what worked with Trumbo as a film? Quite a lot actually.

For a true story film which remarks upon the industry it’s based in, it’s quite funny. Shockingly so come to think of it. The delivery of certain lines and even some of the events which take place, make you laugh out loud.

John Goodman as a great example of someone bringing humour to the table here. He’s surprisingly engaging as a bottom feeder film producer who just needs Trumbo to fix scripts and make him money. He’s sleazy, does it all “for money and pussy” as he puts it. He also has the perfect response for when the John Wayne Foundation for people not being as American as he is turns up to ensure he fires the blacklisted writers. He resolves the argument with a baseball bat, which defines him to a tee.

What do you mean I can’t make Big Lebowski 2?

Oh yeah, you did read about John Wayne in that last part.

This film brings up a few mega stars of the period which tie into what goes on, and some are portrayed as being complete b*stards. B*stards such as John Wayne, played by David James Elliot and it’s really something to see someone like the lower cast Trumbo stand up to a real superstar at the time and wonder what he knew about World War 2, given comments made by Wayne at the time during a meeting.

Perhaps this was and maybe still is how the cesspool of rotten fish that the film industry still works?

Hell, like Mad Men, it shows everyone smoking like a chimney and doesn’t shy away from it, even as far as when lung Cancer comes to the forefront, albeit briefly. The story seems to glide quite effortlessly from mood to mood, and nothing seems jarring, taking you out of the experience. Instead you are slowly drawn into it and want to know more, something I really did not expect to say the least.

Through the comedy and the drama on screen, this film does a decent job of showing what can happen when you’re forced to go to ridiculous lengths just to keep going and try and keep a job which you’ve effectively been banned from doing because you thought differently and behaved differently from others, and the tolls it can take on all involved.

The ending was a poignant way to go, with actual photos of the man and people themselves and ending with a clip of the television interview the real James Dalton gave about the Oscar at the time, showing what his daughter was doing to keep secrets from everyone. The fact that something like this was happening at all to people was awful and it’s through this simple yet ridiculous tale that we had a glimpse of what was happening in the wider context for a lot of people, even if it’s sadly only mentioned briefly at the very end.

Hi there, I’m here to f*ck you in the ass. Toodles!

As for performances, Helen Mirren is the perfect bitch as the Hollywoody reporter who likes to gossip and also meddle with all that goes on, ensuring that the American way is preserved at all costs to her stubborn delights. She’s snide, phoney and after a short time, you instantly hate when she turns up. She is the perfect s*it sturrer of the time, and you kind of feel glad that in the end, all her effort was for nothing. Well portrayed and effective performance for sure.

Brian Cranston does a wonderful job in the lead role and through that and the interaction with others, all of whom put in very good performances. He’s calm, warm, funny and passionate. Certainly Brian makes Trumbo worth a watch himself.

We should give credit to Diane Lane too as Trumbo’s wife, when giving basically her husband a warning that things were going sour, we see a ridiculous amount of patience and tension. She’s been trying to keep it together and it’s starting to wear very thin. In fact, it’s hard to not want to give credit to all involved with the casting of this story, and Louis CK certainly held his own too, giving a grounded view on what was happening and genuine reactions throughout.

So after all this, would I recommend you to go and see Trumbo? I actually would, yes. Which again is another surprise for this season’s bunch of golden dildo chasers. True stories are often just dry, dramatic things which make watching paint dry that much more entertaining. But thankfully this is not so.

Much like Room did earlier this year in terms of surprise, this film also won me over with its out of nowhere humour, chracterisation and heart. Trumbo, actually worth a watch. You just have to, like me, get past the cynicism relating to discussing anyone or anything involved with the Hollywoodies themselves.