'She Said' looks at the reporting that kicked off #MeToo and took down Harvey Weinstein

I am naturally predisposed to liking movies where reporters are the heroes.

So of course I loved “All the President’s Men” and “Spotlight,” two films based on real-life events and, as importantly, the reporters who wrote the stories about them. They don’t shy away from the grunt work of reporting — knocking on doors and making cold calls to try to get facts. They make the mundane thrilling.

“She Said” follows in that vein, a film about not just the story — in this case producer Harvey Weinstein’s monstrously predatory behavior — but about getting the story. It’s not as good as the aforementioned movies, but it is quite good.

And maybe only a journalist will want to cheer when a reluctant source finally decides to go on the record. But “She Said” does a better job than either of the other two films in depicting the grind and the psychic cost of beating your head against the wall for months to get a story.

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'She Said' shows the price of going after Harvey Weinstein

Maria Schrader’s film follows the New York Times reporters who, along with Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker, broke stories about Weinstein, whose crimes proceed unchecked for years, thanks to victims' fear of retaliation. That was a weapon he wielded like a bludgeon.

When we meet Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan), she is trying to get a source to go on the record for a story about accusations of sexual misconduct by Donald Trump, who was running for president. Trump calls Twohey at home and yells at her a little but the sources agrees to be named and the story runs.

The fallout is ugly — someone sends a bag of feces to the source. It’s an illustration of just how risky coming forward can be.

Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), meanwhile, is struggling to keep some sort of work-life balance going when she starts getting tips about Weinstein’s behavior. She gets a call from Rose McGowan, who relates a harrowing story, but says the Times has burned her before. The trick is going to be to get her, or someone, to go on the record about Weinstein.

And no one is willing to do it.

A lot of his victims signed non-disclosure agreements. Others are simply terrified of the influence he yields. Weinstein doesn’t just have friends in high places. He is the high place, seemingly calling all the shots, either browbeating, buying off or otherwise doing whatever is necessary to squelch stories of what seems to be a pretty open rumor.

Twohey and Kantor, with their editor Rebecca Corbett (an excellent Patricia Clarkson), begin working the story. (Andre Braugher makes an excellent Dean Baquet, incidentally, especially in his dealings with Weinstein.)

They are looking not just for victims, of which there are plenty (Ashley Judd plays herself, and agonizes about whether to come forward and, if so, how far to go) but for people with working knowledges of how the NDAs and bribes worked, how much of Weinstein’s company’s money was spent cleaning up his behavior, how many incidents occurred?

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Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan give genuine performances as journalists

Twohey meets occasionally with Lanny Davis (Peter Friedman, in a role similar to the one he plays on “Succession”). It’s fascinating — Davis offers a wink and a nod to a lot of the accusations, making it clear that this is an open secret that they both know can’t be reported without sources on the record. It’s high-level negotiating, in a way.

Meanwhile Twohey and Kantor learn that Farrow is chasing the same story, adding an extra layer of pressure.

It gets to them sometimes. Twohey becomes pregnant and has a baby right before they really dig in. Kantor still strives for some kind of balance in her life. When Corbett tells them they need to fly to California and then to Europe to find sources, Kantor and Twohey shoot each other stunned glances.

Given the current state of newsrooms, I thought they were just surprised the paper had the budget to send them anywhere. But in fact, the look came from the fact they both knew that Kantor would have to work out an arrangement with her husband to keep the kids if she was going to travel.

It's a movie that feels genuine

When we see small details like, it’s when Schrader’s direction is most powerful — as is Kazan and Mulligan’s acting. It’s not showy. There’s no grandstanding. Instead they fully and genuinely inhabit the characters of two women with lives and problems of their own trying to convince other women to make the most difficult decision of their life.

When they finally get a source to go on the record, though, it’s such a relief. They know this is a story that needs to be told; they just worry whether it ever will.

And when they crowd around a newsroom computer waiting to hit the “publish” button, along with the small group of editors who have worked on the story that will help launch the #MeToo movement, you want to stand and cheer.

You should forget false claims of fake news. It lags in a few places, but “She Said” gives you a journalism story to cheer for.

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'She Said' 4 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Maria Schrader.

Cast: Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Patricia Clarkson.

Rating: R for language and descriptions of sexual assault.

Note: In theaters Nov. 18.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'She Said' movie review: Behind Harvey Weinstein's takedown and #metoo