Metascore
73 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 38
  2. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. All give heartfelt, unflashy performances that help make Shattered Glass one of the season's most thoughtful offerings.
  2. 100
    A moral, not a moralistic, movie. It's also a bracing aesthetic achievement, creating a fictional version of a factual case that illuminates as it entertains.
  3. Presents Glass as a masterfully corrupt fabulist who convinced himself of the ultimate seductive lie, which is that there can't be anything wrong with telling people what they want to hear.
  4. The sharpest journalism thriller I've seen in years: an absolutely riveting drama that doesn't glorify its subject in the slightest and shrewdly says a lot of very sad things about the state of modern journalism.
  5. An astute and surprisingly gripping drama not only about the ethics of magazine writing, but also, more generally, about the subtle political and psychological dynamics of modern office culture.
  6. Reviewed by: David Ansen
    90
    Writer-director Ray has a no-fuss style that is quietly, thoroughly gripping.
  7. The interplay between Glass and Lane is riveting and rigorous.
  8. 88
    The movie is smart about journalism because it is smart about offices; the typical newsroom is open space filled with desks, and journalists are actors on this stage; to see a good writer on deadline with a big story is to watch not simply work but performance.
  9. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    88
    You get the sense that there's probably more to the story than you get here. But the movie's moral will soon be indelible: You just can't fake it in the Internet age.
  10. Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    88
    Against very steep odds, writer-director Billy Ray and company have, in telling the real-life story of fictionalizing "New Republic" writer Stephen Glass and his downfall, produced the most entertaining inside-journalism movie since "All the President's Men."
  11. Reviewed by: Clint Morris
    80
    Whilst not an A grade psychological profile by any means, Ray has still crafted a meticulously enjoyable film. It’s as gripping as it is disturbing, and as well performed as it is mysterious.
  12. Reviewed by: William Thomas
    80
    Gripping, claustrophobic drama.
  13. What is a most pleasant surprise is how emotionally involving a story writer-director Billy Ray has fashioned, how he's turned Shattered Glass into a film for anyone who cares about strong drama.
  14. A smart, suspenseful drama, starring Hayden Christensen, that honors its own factual roots as no movie about journalists has done since "All the President's Men."
  15. In a sense, Shattered Glass is a parenthetical horror movie in which someone discovers (or worse, denies) the monster within themselves.
  16. 75
    The film never digs deep enough into the pressures on Glass from his family, his peers and himself to achieve psychological depth. But as an inside look into the hothouse of journalism, it's dynamite.
  17. 75
    By retelling Glass' pathetic tale, Shattered Glass reminds you how our culture's emphasis on success and stardom in any field -- and the betrayal of ethics to attain them -- has a cumulative, corrosive effect on society, no matter how small the stage may be.
  18. Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    An impressively compelling film.
  19. 75
    Shattered Glass, with its dumb title, is smart about good vs. evil. Incidentally, the good is Lane, who now works at The Washington Post and was a consultant on this picture.
  20. 75
    May be light when it comes to psychological questions, but its detailed accounting of Glass' actions makes for fascinating viewing.
  21. 75
    The issues the film raises are truly profound and discomfiting whether you work in the media or just consume it.
  22. Although the substance could have used more visual style, Ray tells an uncluttered story and draws strong performances from his actors.
  23. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    70
    It's almost inconceivable how Glass could have gotten away with so much, but the movie makes a convincing case for how Glass used office politics, the good faith of his editors and his own personal charisma to get away with the worst offenses a journalist could commit.
  24. 70
    Far and away the strongest performance in Shattered Glass is Peter Sarsgaard’s.
  25. 70
    Shattered Glass simply sinks its teeth into a juicy story, never better than when Sarsgaard methodically paints the sniveling Christensen into a corner.
  26. 70
    Scrupulously accurate, sometimes-tedious account of Stephen Glass' malfeasance.
  27. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    70
    Credibly and absorbingly relates the tale of journalistic fraud perpetrated by young writer Stephen Glass at the New Republic five years back.
  28. Given recent similar incidents of young con artists posing as journalists, this is a timely and compelling film, but I wish the filmmakers had widened their focus to address the kinds of journalistic corruption that go beyond simple fibbing.
  29. The sheer loathesomeness of protagonist Stephen Glass as portrayed by Hayden Christensen makes Shattered Glass hard to watch.
  30. Fails on a couple of levels. It never really gives you a sense of the psychology, the root causes behind Glass' elaborate frauds... And since we don't know the why, the how becomes considerably less interesting.
  31. The makers of Shattered Glass ignore this obvious give-and-take reality, and substitute the hoary myth that, save for the odd lying devil, the free press is a bastion of the gospel truth. Even here, then, the facts get shaped to fit the theme. Ironically, had they not, it would have made for a helluva better story.
  32. Writer-director Billy Ray is so eager to be fair-minded about everything and everyone that you can't help thinking he's a patsy, too. If he directed a movie of Othello, he'd probably try to make us feel warm and fuzzy about poor, misunderstood Iago.
  33. It irks the ink out of me to see Lane exalted as a hero for doing what any responsible editor would do, then being paid to consult on his own canonization.
  34. Uses a wraparound story to provide a hint of Glass’ deep-seated pathology, but allows no details about how it came into being.
  35. 50
    The Sarsgaard slow burn is only marginally more compelling than the Christensen simper; like its subject, the movie is self-important yet insipid.
  36. 50
    As a whole, Shattered Glass is carefully constructed, intently played, and shot with creepy calm. It is also, by a considerable margin, the most ridiculous movie I have seen this year. [3 November 2003, p. 104]
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. The cast is what makes Shattered Glass the engaging film that it is. While it does somewhat follow the formula for a by-the-numbers biopic, it's the performances by a surprisingly captivating cast that makes the film so powerful. Special mention must be made of Hayden Christensen, who showed that he was much more than just a Canadian soap star / George Lucas' puppet. Christensen manages to effortlessly display the tension and terror of being "caught" in Glass' lies, and his portrayal of Glass' staunch refusal to ever admit to a lie is only amplified by Peter Sarsgaard's tenacious Chuck Lane, who only wants Glass to just admit to his mistakes. Shattered Glass isn't a perfect film, and may come off as boring to some, but if you enjoy performance pieces from an excellent cast, this film is definitely for you. Full Review »
  2. 5
    The film is flashy, but the filmmakers are not getting inside their character's brain at all and rather focus more on the dull procedures of editing in corporate magazines. Full Review »