Max Perkins (Colin Firth), the Scribner editor who actually gained famed through his partnership with Hemingway and Fitzgerald, decides to take on Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) and his manic, romantic personality and endless manuscripts at a time when no one else will. Soon, they published Look Homeward, Angel, Of Time and the River, and other acclaimed and sprawling works while carrying out a great and bittersweet friendship. It must have been a tall order for director Michael Grandage and screenwriter John Logan to craft a cinematically presentable version of A. Scott Berg's book, which I imagine would seem unfilmable, but offers a human, literate take and does its darndest to illustrate the writing process. Guy Pearce is affecting as F. Scott Fitzgerald.
*** out of ****
