The movie hums, purrs and shines. But it's also full of contradictions. A big budget picture about mass media fakery that's somewhat rigged itself, a docudrama that stretches the facts, an exposé on class prejudice that almost succumbs to [that] vice.

Fiennes' ability to project the pain behind a well-mannered facade, to turn intellectual and emotional agony into a real and living thing, is devastating. Impressive as the film is... Quiz Show would have been a very different experience without him.

For all of its occasional naiveté, this is a movie that practices what it preaches: It's a fine, worthy film, devoid of pandering or commercial compromise, that allows a number of talented people do some very good work.

Robert Redford's soft-spoken, intelligent but never less than entertaining movie reminds us of exactly what we've been missing -- a story that seems utterly fresh and a filmmaking style best described as civilized.