Confirmation

Mirroring Hill's demeanor in those incendiary hearings, Washington is all grace under fire, delivering the graphic allegations in a calm, composed and measured manner while nailing every nuance.

Like the tremendously successful “American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson,” HBO’s new film, the ultra-sharp Confirmation, is a look back at the muddled ’90s, when racism and sexism were shockingly overt, and one could be used to undercut or confuse the other on the public stage.

While it runs a bit long and can get bogged down with minor details that detract from the overall plot, because it touches on so many important issues--race relations, gender equity, political maneuvering--Confirmation makes for a fascinating look at an important moment from a turbulent decade.

Confirmation is a restrained and tasteful retelling. Maybe a little too much so. ... But what keeps Confirmation watchable are vivid performances by a terrific cast.

At times Famuyiwa is so concerned with including the myriad supporting players that the film can be more of a competent procedural than a riveting, insightful exploration of a crucial moment in American politics. But those worries are mostly tempered by the slow reveal of the film’s true agenda.

Washington provides a strong sense of the woman and her complex reactions. Pierce, too, is just right here, with his bottled-up anger. Around them are many small but fine portraits--Alison Wright (Martha on “The Americans”) as Thomas’s supportive wife, Bill Irwin as a nasty Danforth, and Treat Williams as Kennedy, hobbled by his own past. Like Confirmation, they’re sharply etched.

Meticulously produced, cast to the hilt and boasting powerful performances by Kerry Washington and Wendell Pierce in the lead roles.

It's quite a good one. It boasts a brisk pace, strong direction by Rick Famuyiwa and a superb cast led by Kerry Washington as Hill and Wendell Pierce as Thomas.

The only part of the otherwise sophisticated Confirmation that rings false is its closing chyron, which indicates that Hill's case emboldened victims of harassment to speak out and factored into 1992's congressional "year of the woman," in which female candidates won more seats than ever before.

Confirmation isn’t particularly illuminating except for viewers with no recollection of the events. Confirmation is still a worthwhile film packed with impressive performances. Washington is perfectly cast as Hill, though there’s considerable irony in watching her go up against the White House that employed Judy Smith (Kristen Ariza), the inspiration for Washington’s star-making role on Scandal, as its crisis manager.

Confirmation, like those hearings, settles nothing. The film’s coda suggests the country has come a long way. That, along with everything else here, will give viewers plenty to talk about.

Confirmation is an effective movie, although certainly not a great one, in terms of reconstructing how Hill was first persuaded to come forward and then left distraught, defeated and convinced it was “a mistake.” Washington and Pierce are both strong in these pivotal roles.

There is nothing about Confirmation that's transformative, but it’s solid work about an important moment in our history. And for TV purposes, it’s a work that allows Washington to show what a fine actor she can be.

With a running time of under two hours, it has no room for the detail or nuance, let alone the humor, that made “The People v. O.J.” so addictive. But Confirmation succeeds in making us re-examine attitudes from the vantage point of a quarter century, and also in reminding us that politics is an ugly business.

Confirmation is not nearly as nuanced as the recent O.J. Simpson trial docudrama on FX. It’s also much shorter and more reliant on news footage. But it similarly revives memories of a wild media/cultural/political flashpoint.

Judged on its own, Confirmation is solidly in the middle range of meat-and-potatoes HBO historical movies. There’s nothing wrong with it, nor will it do much to surprise you. It tells a sober, linear story and doesn’t develop its characters beyond headline-news figures.

Confirmation is not a particularly good production, but it is gripping.

Superbly acted but severely unadventurous in scope, Confirmation plays like a milquetoast movie of the week from yesteryear.

Confirmation goes for something more dispassionate and even with the fine acting and a great built-in story, delivers something less enlightening and less enjoyable.

Dutiful, respectful, evenhanded, and full of old network TV news clips that attest to the great drama of the moment, Confirmation can also be about as adventurous as a televised hearing on C-SPAN.

Confirmation could have used a lot less C-SPAN and a lot more theater.

What’s fascinating--and disappointing--about Confirmation is that we somehow manage to learn more about Hill in the recreation of scenes that are essentially dramatic re-enactments of C-Span clips you can watch right now on YouTube. That leaves about an hour and a half of bloodless storytelling that ping-pongs from law offices to congressional corridors to Thomas’ living room.

HBO’s Confirmation isn’t the first TV project to play it safe, but in this case, playing it safe results in a missed opportunity that has as much to do with what’s happening in the real world as it does with timid filmmaking.