Joaquin Phoenix gives a rollicking performance as Callahan.

If Phoenix doesn't generate much humor, he also acts as an astringent against the potent sentimentality of Callahan's Saul-to-Paul transformation and pilgrimage of apology, underlined by a heart-tugging Danny Elfman score.

Basically, you can't take your eyes off Hill. And you get the feeling that Phoenix can't either. That gravitational pull is exactly right for the story.

A man disowned at birth drifts into a life of substance abuse, then becomes a quadriplegic, only to make a mockery of acceptable social decorum while finding roaring success as a member of the press within the very bastion of staunch Blue State territory.