Where Does the Truth Lie?

Now I don’t know if two films a trend makes, but I’ve got a question: Does Hollywood have it out for the media or just women?

Female journalists don’t come off all that well in Atom Egoyan’s Where The Truth Lies. Karen O’Conner (played by Alison Lohman) is writing a book about Vince Collins (Colin Firth) and she not only messes around with her subject but sleeps with his music and comedy partner Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) as well.

So fine, there is one working woman who goes a little too far for the story. But then there is another woman, an editor of a college paper who sleeps with them both while interviewing them, and then attempts to blackmail them over a story.

We just saw Where The Truth Lies, but it came out around the just before the Toronto Film Festival, where Thank You For Smoking premiered. In it Katie Holmes' journalist character sleeps with a tobacco lobbyist played by Aaron Eckhart to get information that she uses in a scathing profile that ruins his career.

You may have heard about that scene – it’s the one that wasn’t in the Sundance version of the screening and has created much speculation that Tom Cruise used his star power to have the scene of his fiancé in the flesh expunged from the flick. The director says it was an editing mistake and will be back in the film when it debuts in March. I’ve seen it and it’s no big deal.

But I digress. Is this an attack against the media? Certainly Hollywood has no love lost for reporters. While they are necessary for them to sell their product I’m sure many see them as parasites. So is it women they are after, criticizing as social climbers who will do anything to get ahead?

Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoyed the film and think it got hurt by a pointless NC-17 rating. I just wish I had asked Egoyan this question when we saw him at the screening. Ooops.