The Trial of the Chicago 7

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This little bit of historic fluff was written by Aaron Sorkin, who is best known for creating “The West Wing.” Here he manages to avoid most of his purple prose; for his finest examples of over-cooked, flowery dialogue, you should really check out his series, “The Newsroom.” There is lots of opportunity in this film for the sort of liberal grandstanding he is known for. It covers the trial of the seven men arrested after the protests that occurred at the 1968 Democratic convention. These men were known for their pontificating. Yet, Sorkin, mostly sticks to the facts, choosing to let the real drama of the case speak for itself. Had he done otherwise, he would have been rightly skewered by critics. But, the end result feels a bit ho-hum. Even with the anarchic showboating of the Yippies, Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), it never really adds up to much energy. There are some obvious comparisons to the world we live in today, and how much we have (and haven’t) changed. But, all in all, the film seemed to lack a vitality. It never made me angry or sad or moved or really feel any emotion at all. It felt a bit like an exercise in film making, rather than a fully realized film in itself.