Worth

— “Worth” may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the film questions issues about which I'm keenly interested. Besides, Michael Keaton continues to be an actor who’s worth watching. The aftermath of 9/11 is front and center, as everyone—politicians, attorneys, corporations, and victims’ families—try to figure out how much a victim’s life is worth. Obviously, there’s no easy answer if there’s an answer at all, but everyone comes at it from their own perspective, and it isn’t just a question of rational compromise since the potential recipients of any compensation are understandably emotional. Is there a way to make a rubric work? Is consistency ever fair? Is it possible to consider individual circumstances when dealing with a nearly 3,000 families who lost loved ones? Does every formula fairly or unfairly compensate the poorest victims? And what about those who were injured, or those whose injuries are yet to surface? How do you even define “loved ones” and “compensation”? There are so many variables that it's hard not to strive for impartiality with a set of hard and fast criteria, but if you allow yourself to listen to the individual affected, you're pulled toward the need for fuzzy and more personal evaluations of innocent people whose lives are shattered. To be fair, there’s more than a little melodrama, but it’s muted and may help with the Keaton’s character's shift over the course of the film, leading viewers not to the right answer, but at least to a solution that seems better than other solutions for these circumstances. It’s a decent film made better by the questions raised, and there is again good chemistry between Keaton and Stanely Tucci to elevate the experience. [Netflix streaming.]

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[2020. 118 min. Directed by Sara Colangelo. Starring Michael Keaton, Amy Ryan, and Stanley Tucci.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/worth-movie-review-2021