 |
| Cherry Jones, Bobby Cannavale and Daniel Radcliffe (Photo Caitlin McNaney) |
In the name of accuracy, a piece of reporting goes through a
fact-checking process that roots out fabrication and plagiarism. A writer may try
to deny what the fact checker turns up. The one in the witty The Lifespan of a Fact does that, and the editor is forced to intervene. With the magazine’s
deadline on Monday the article must be fact checked over the weekend.
To study for his role, Daniel Radcliffe embedded with The
New Yorker’s brilliant fact-checking team, much to their delight. Radcliffe
makes a credible journalist, no mean feat, who gets so far into the article
that he can propose a different lede and better title, which his editor
approves.
As the editor, Cherry Jones is a boss. (Did Cherry Jones embed at The
New Yorker too?) Her bristling “Norman Mailer” (Bobby Cannavale) turns out to
live in a seedy apartment in Las Vegas that he shared with his mother until she
died, in her chair.
Cannavale’s monologue about the chair is an unexpected
tearjerker—and makes you question your own hold on truth. “I’m not interested
in accuracy,” his writer says. “I am not beholden to every detail.” However, the
sources for his feature article on deadline are “the homeless lady” and “the
woman at the Aztec Bar.”
You’d think these three stunning actors could camp it up more.
Directed to play it straight, perhaps it’s a given, because the ending will
have the hairs standing on the back of your neck.
Hurry to see Lifespan of a Fact before it closes, and while
Time magazine honors the noble journalist as their Person of the Year.
 |
| Frank Sinatra is the soundtrack at 21. |
In Hitchcock's “Rear Window,” Grace Kelly orders lobster carryout from
21 Club to share with wheelchair-bound photojournalist James Stewart. In “Sweet Smell of Success,”
memorable for such lines as “I love this dirty town!” the talent agent and
gossip columnist played by Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster cut deals at 21. The
restaurant is in more classic Hollywood movies than any other. Few restaurants come with higher expectations.
The food is good. To be specific, better than average.
Truth is, we’ve been there but once, for the lunch special, not for the long
menu that lists Dover sole for $76. In fact, that price is an anomaly, but how
can one truly enjoy the perfectly fine prix-fixe salmon against the
looming possibility of that stupendous Dover sole? The best part was that our
kind old waiter could tell us exactly where Joan Rivers used to sit.
Cast iron jockeys at the entrance to 21 Club were facing
sideways, until someone noticed in “All About Eve” that when Margo Channing,
Bette Davis, rolls up to 21 Club, the jockeys are facing the street. Today, the jockeys
face the street.
