The Ghost Writer

Director Roman Polanski’s latest film is a fictionalized look at a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan, obviously playing a role modeled after Tony Blair) and the trouble he’s having getting his memoirs published. His first writer drowned in an apparent accident, and the next ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is uncovering all sorts of crooked, shifty stuff involving the War on Terror as he augments the manuscript. Olivia Williams does some of the film’s best work as the ex-prime minister’s wife, a deceptively grouchy woman who seems fed up with her spouse. McGregor does well under Polanski’s tutelage, as does Brosnan. The film is set in Massachusetts, but because Polanski can’t come here without getting pinched, Germany substitutes (rather unsuccessfully) for Cape Cod. Polanski had to work on postproduction while in a Swiss prison; actually, the circumstances surrounding the making of the movie are a little more interesting than the movie itself. The film keeps you interested, but isn’t among Polanski’s best.