Product Details

• Actors: Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid
• Directors: Ron Howard
• Writers: David Koepp, Stephen Koepp
• Producers: Aldric La'auli Porter, Brian Grazer, David Koepp, Dylan Sellers, Frederick Zollo
• Format: PAL
• Language: English
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005N53X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381,020 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Paper" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Highly entertaining albeit thin journalism thriller, this examination of a 24-hour period in the life of a New York Post-ish tabloid focuses on a hard-working metro editor (a pitch-perfect Michael Keaton) thinking of going to a loftier job at a rival paper. Edgy, "NYC as the center of the universe" full of sweat and grit, the paper debates the hot story of the day: a racial shooting. Like most movies from Ron Howard's universe (Parenthood, Backdraft), it's always just a movie, full of dramatic, over-the-top setups instead of the genuine article. Still, the film has the feeling of being there, full of workman's vigor where "I'm on deadline" is the family motto. The cast is just right although the roles are stereotypical: the grizzled editor-in-chief (Robert Duvall) the cold female manager (Glenn Close), the slightly whacked-out ace columnist (Randy Quaid), and the rest. Each actor has choice moments in this movie that may turn fans on to the hectic side of journalism. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker

Ron Howard's big-city-newspaper comedy is a game try at reviving a great Hollywood genre. It doesn't adhere very scrupulously to the classical form, but it sure does play. The movie-which follows Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton), the Metro editor of a struggling New York tabloid, through a single, absurdly gruelling day-gets most of its laughs by constantly piling fresh difficulties on top of already impossible circumstances. The furious plot complications have the effect of confirming the it's-always-something consciousness of harried city folk, and this stressed-out fatalism gives the picture an inexorable and oddly pleASINg comic momentum. Keaton is at his best here, which means that his mind appears to be working at warp speed, and with a berserk, reckless lucidity. Randy Quaid, Marisa Tomei, Robert Duvall, and Jason Alexander create lively, funny characters for Keaton to bounce off, and Howard lets the actors' energy drive the movie. Unfortunately, some inappropriate yuppie philosophizing starts creeping in toward the end; it's clear that Howard and the screenwriters, David and Stephen Koepp, aren't quite willing to go all the way with the heartless, cynical wit of the genre. Also with Glenn Close and Catherine O'Hara. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars STOP THE PRESSES, November 22, 2005

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Paper (DVD)

A high powered ensemble cast propels Ron Howard's examination of 24 hours in the life of a struggling New York paper. Michael Keaton gives a solid performance as the managing editor who wants to make up for the paper's losing a key story. Robert Duvall plays the cancer-ridden editor who wants a relationship with his estranged daughter; Glenn Close has as pre Cruella Deville moment as the acerbic manager; Marisa Tomei tries for another Oscar as Keaton's wife, but she doesn't quite pull it off; Randy Quaid is the columnist who works with Keaton to save the fate of two wrongfully accused African American teenagers, and Jason Alexander surfaces as a disgruntled victim of the press. All in all, it's frenetic and Howard does a good job of capturing the feel of a newspaper facing a seemingly impossible deadline. The movie is a little too long, but it reaches the expected climax with a few moments of tension along the way.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Because your whole world can change in 24 hours, August 31, 2001

By 

Andrea Gidusko (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Paper (DVD)

Is the theme of this film, one of the best films I have ever seen at the only movie I have ever seen eight times in the theater. Yes, I saw ONE movie eight times in the movie theater, but the thing is I never got sick of it. I'm already a bit biased given Michael Keaton is my all time favorite actor, but I love this movie for so many more reasons. The acting by Michael, Marisa Tomei, Robert Duval, Randy Quaid and Glen Glose is just exceptional, and Ron Howards directing is on the mark as always.
There are also some good cameos by the late William Kunstler and Jason Robards. There's also a hillarious cameo by Bob Costas which I won't give away, you've just gotta see it:)

Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) has a grueling job as an editor at The New York Sun (my guess being it's supposed to be a ficitional verison of The New York Post judging by such front page headlines as "No Parking Except For Me" and "Gotcha") that usually keeps him from his wife nine months pregnant wife Martha (Marisa Tomei) 24/7, so she's pressuring him to get a cushier job at The New York Sentinal (fictional version of The New York Times based on their mantra of "We Cover The World.") Henry of course doesn't want to be out of the action that makes him down Cokes and Tums all day, and finds himself subconsciously sabatoging the interview in the pursuit of finding out the truth behind a grizzly murder and exonerate the two boys arrested for the murder whom he knows in his gut are innocent. The movie takes place during these twenty four hours; from battling with bosses, to fights, to shootings to a father trying to make ammends with his daughter he neglected; this movie shows a day in the life of five people as they try to find the truth behind the murder and the truth about their lifes. Because your whole world can change in twenty-four hours.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sum less than the (good) parts, November 30, 2001

By 

Matthew Spady "800rsd" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Paper (DVD)

Odd film, this. The cast is first-rate and the individual performances good, at times excellent (Close, Duvall, Tomei); the main theme of the story is interesting, as are the sub-plots; Ron Howard's direction is of the high quality audiences would expect; and the settings are authentically New York, appropriate for a "newspaper" flick. So, why doesn't it all work any better than it does?

One reason is that the individual scenes have greater dramatic impact than the complete film does. At times, the scenes appear to have been taken from different films and pasted together into this one.

Robert Duvall's attempts to reestablish contact with his estranged daughter - an angry woman if ever there was one - are both touching and unsettling. The restaurant scene with Michael Keaton and Marisa Tomei presents a detailed, albeit quick, portrait of their complex relationship, although Keaton's out-of-body experience seemed out-of-keeping with the overall tone of the film. The newspaper editorial staff meeting provides opportunity for several of the supporting characters to distinguish themselves. Tomei's solo screen time is excellent and the Keaton/Close knock-down, drag-out fight on the catwalk by the presses is genuinely frightening.

But, the drama in these scenes does not carry over to the film as a whole. Since each of these story elements receives almost equal attention, the main thread of the story - whether or not the paper will effect the fate of the accused man - does not take center stage. With the film's focus shifted to the struggles among the people who think they hold the accused's fate in their hands, the audience does not have an opportunity to empathize with the accused himself.

In the theatre, this lack of empathy can make the whole venture fall flat. Fortunately, with the DVD format, one can re-watch his favorite scenes without investing time repeating the entire film. In this film, the individual performances are sufficiently powerful to warrant that approach.