Who's in It: Toby Jones, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Panes, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, John Benjamin Hickey, Lee Pace, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels
The Basics: The other Truman Capote movie is finally here, made at the same time but kept on the shelf for a year to give audiences a chance to breathe between retellings. This one's lighter and funnier … until it's not. And then it's really not.
What's the Deal? The thing about Capote is that he told stories and embellished them. And then biographers emphasize different aspects of his personality. And then filmmakers pick what they want from the biographies. And then people get bent out of shape about it, now that we're all so concerned about "facts" post-James Frey. If you're like that, then get over it. The past can be kind of ambiguous, you know?
Which One's Better? Capote is more intimate, sad and dark. Like I said, this one's funnier and focuses a lot on the writer's New York life with his gaggle of society ladies. And British actor Toby Jones just flat-out looks more like Capote than Philip Seymour Hoffman. So, uh, the answer is this one's better.
Big Surprise: After years of klutzy, dopey romantic comedies and then an overwrought performance in the klutzy, dopey Crash, Sandra Bullock is great as To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee. You want her to have her own movie as this person.
What Sucks: The ending. It manages to be both maudlin and distant at the same time. A weird trick — don't know how director Douglas McGrath pulled that off, but he did.