Boston Strangler

I won't beat around the bush here: I really, really liked this. It's a simple, effective story (albeit with some details changed/omitted) about how two women reporters in the 60's cracked the Boston Strangler case when the Boston police couldn't, then went after the police department for their bungling of it and railroading of a prime suspect that didn't add up. It doesn't have to scream to the rooftops that these are strong women; they're just written, acted, and presented as such. Show, don't tell. Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon are fantastic, as the movie centers around them and their dogged pursuit of the truth about the killer and the investigation when no one -- not the police, not the higher-ups at the paper, not husbands -- think a "skirt" should be on such a serious story. Smartly, the movie is also directed in such a way and the story unfolds in such a way that the murders aren't glamorized. This could easily put just as much focus on the murders themselves, but they're shown fleetingly, more to set up the killer's patterns and tendencies than to revel in the murders themselves. The star of the show really is the investigation by the two newspaper writers. To that end, the one flaw I'd lodge is the movie fudges some historical details, and there's no need. The Boston Strangler case is weird and wild and frankly unbelievable as is without massaging for the sake of a Hollywood narrative. And it does tend to drag in a couple places; perhaps some judicious editing would help that. Trim 5-10 minutes off, especially some of the scenes that pound the " nobody believes in the women" theme into the ground. Overall, though, a damned good -- surprisingly damned good -- true crime movie. It hits the beats and hits them well.