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True Colors (1991)
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:7
Rotten:6
Average Rating:5.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: This riveting portrait of political society and scandal in highbrow Washington, DC, stars James Spader as Tim Garrity, a socially responsible young man from the upper-middle classes who is engaged... This riveting portrait of political society and scandal in highbrow Washington, DC, stars James Spader as Tim Garrity, a socially responsible young man from the upper-middle classes who is engaged to the daughter of the influential and powerful Senator Stiles (Richard Widmark); and John Cusack as Peter Burton, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks with ambition to burn. Both are enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School in 1983. They become roommates and friends quite by accident, and differences in their individual pursuits in politics drive them apart. Taking the Reagan-era credo of greed to heart, Burton ruthlessly claws his way up the political ladder in his effort to get elected to Congress. In the process, he betrays Garrity by stealing his fiancée (Imogen Stubbs) and then becomes involved in shady dealings with a corrupt businessman (Mandy Patinkin). Garrity, principled but passive, stands by while Burton chews up and spits out everyone and everything in his path--until Burton turns on Senator Stiles, forcing Garrity to finally take action against his friend. [More]
Starring: James Spader, John Cusack, Richard Widmark, Mandy Patinkin
Starring: James Spader, John Cusack, Richard Widmark, Mandy Patinkin, Imogen Stubbs, Dina Merrill, Philip Bosco, Paul Guilfoyle, Brad Sullivan
Director: Herbert Ross
Director: Herbert Ross
Screenwriter: Kevin Wade
Producer: Laurence Mark, Herbert Ross
Composer: Trevor Jones
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Reviews for True Colors
The painstakingly obvious screenplay by Kevin Wade (Working Girl) plays like an eighth-grade civics primer: ethics and morality are good, greed and corruption are bad.
Diverting political melodrama, but shouldn't Cusack and Spader have switched roles?
A case study of the dire effects of an individual's lack of ethical standards.
True Colors apparently thinks it is exposing the values of the greedy 1980's. Yet its own understanding of moral conduct is warped.
Much of the film’s entertainment value lies in watching two familiar guys (Cusack and Spader) playing switcheroo with their stock roles, but the movie is more than just effective ‘gimmick casting’.
While it aspires to lofty heights, it never really goes much beyond the rules of behavior prescribed by the Boy Scout Handbook.
Requires more than the willing suspension of disbelief; it demands a willful abandonment of incredulity.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
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| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
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