Some Reviews of New Tom Cruise Movie Link Meryl Streep's Character to Judith Miller

By: E&P Staff The reviews of the new Robert Redford ripped-from-the-headlines film, "Lions for Lambs," which opened today, are decidedly mixed. A few critics have noted that the TV reporter played by Meryl Streep bears an uncanny resemblance (though certainly not in hair color) to one Judith Miller, the former New York Times scribe.

The Streep reporter, who had erred in covering an earlier war (Iraq?), looks like a patsy for a leak from the bad guy senator, played by Cruise, but this time she is made of sterner stuff in regard to targeting Iran. Here's how some reviewers commented.

-- The Washington Post: "When Streep's character faces a fateful journalistic choice in Washington (let's call it the Judith Miller Conundrum), it's impossible not to see the ghost of Redford's Bob Woodward in 'All the President's Men' and understand how far Redford believes journalism has fallen from its sacred skeptical perch."

--Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Roth is turned into a stand-in for The New York Times reporter Judith Miller, so that the filmmakers can make their overly literal points about the recent failings of the mainstream press."

--The Toronto Star: "One pits Meryl Streep's veteran Judith Miller-like reporter Janine Roth against Tom Cruise's hawkish Republican Sen. Jasper Irving...."

--East Bay Express: "Meryl Streep is a Judith Miller-type reporter for a cable news network who's being sold a phony scoop by slick Republican senator Tom Cruise."