A lot of adrenaline is packed into this 1990’s classic

I think it’s safe to say that if there was any singular good thing to come out of this quarantine is the fact that people are watching more movies, as in obscure and cult movies that only people with a lot of spare time watch. And with everyone having all of the free time that they’ll ever need, we now watch many works of art that we wouldn’t have known about, let alone cared about, in times past. What I’m trying to say is that we now have the ability to watch any movie that we want and we should fully take advantage of that! The must-see movie that you probably didn’t see yet is a classic from the ‘90’s called The Paper. It is a movie about an almost typical day at The New York Sun’s newspaper office and is full of both action and emotion. The movie starts off strong with foreshadowing imagery. It is perfect in its way of portraying realistic dialogue, with only a hint of horrendous product placement.

We see into the lives of journalists and find out that most see tragedies as another exploitable story to sell more papers. Our main character, Henry (played by Michael Keaton), while mostly being focused like everyone else in his office, still wants to make the best for his wife (played by Marisa Tomei) and soon-to-be child. Everyone tells him that he has other things to worry about, like the hot new crime that everyone wants to get their own dirt on it. The office staff seems to ignore any ethical feelings of their own, if they even have any to begin with.The crime that is forefront in the story involves two suspects who are completely innocent of the crime they were accused of, but the newspaper wants to get the scoop and is willing to share misinformation to the general public, based on their research that points fingers at the suspects, if they can get their fifteen minutes of fame.

The newspaper office becomes increasingly more and more chaotic over the movies 24-hour period, which is especially crazy counting the personal problems of several characters. We see the office try to get the best things on the paper for the next day, even sinking to get international stories just because two New Yorkers were there. There seems to be a new piece of evidence almost every hour in the movies time, as well as new internal struggles that the characters must overcome. Some will have to make difficult decisions that’ll change their whole lives, and one must decide whether or not to reconcile with loved ones before his impending demise. All of this happens while we see how difficult the jobs of working in journalism are. This includes that of the photographer, who had to move fast to get the best possible shot while nearly being trampled, and the one who finds the scoop and has to argue with superiors for an appropriate headline and story idea. Ethics are sometimes thrown out the window because they that doesn’t sell papers, and that’s what the business of a newspaper is… or is it?

The fast-paced story shows that sometimes journalists have to cancel plans at the last minute, because there’s a chance of an exclusive fact about the news story they are pursuing, a fact that will change the entire story, effectively making the public view the situation in another and entirely different way, and timing is everything. With each new piece of information, the story takes its twists and turns and the lives of the characters more as quickly as the stories that they write. This plotline shows just how much morality gets thrown out of the window to either save a couple of bucks or to find a story to sell papers. From another perspective, the choices made by the characters seem perfectly reasonable for their situations, whether it is in pursuit of a story or of a life-changing decision.

Sooner or later they realize that they must do the right thing in whatever situation or story they find themselves in. A movie like this is one that must be seen multiple times to appreciate every little bit of detail that it has hidden for the viewer, plus it’s really, really funny! While it is not exactly laugh-out- loud funny, the jokes and humor throughout will make you giggle or more! This, alongside the well-paced scenes connecting together seamlessly, spells a recipe for success. I give this movie a 10/10, watch it immediately if you can! It is available through different streaming services, but can also be found at https://hdfy.to/movies/comedy/the-paper-1994- watch-online.