For a political thriller, The Report is more sad than revelatory, more melancholy than cathartic. Jones's work was not entirely in vain. His revelations of a cover-up, though heavily doctored, eventually were made public.

The hackneyed script has the effect of lending an unmerited nobility to the politicians and bureaucrats on-screen.

Driver and Bening give detailed and thoughtful performances, and the film, though necessarily on the dry side, is riveting from start to finish.

I was intrigued from scene to scene, and my eyes couldn't leave the screen -- especially in the first half.