Between the Lines

Directed by Joan Micklin Silver, Between the Lines follows the staff of a Boston-based alternative newspaper as they deal with a variety of issues in their personal and professional lives. Filmmaker Silver, armed with Fred Barron and David M. Helpern Jr.’s screenplay, delivers a freewheeling and easygoing endeavor that benefits substantially from its assortment of likeable, compelling characters, and it doesn’t hurt, certainly, that Silver has elicited completely captivating work from a top-notch cast that includes, among others, Bruno Kirby, Jeff Goldblum, Lindsay Crouse, and John Heard – with the latter’s thoroughly charismatic turn as the paper’s rebellious writer standing as an ongoing highlight within the proceedings. And although the narrative admittedly does boast a small handful of ineffective sequences, including a party interlude that just seems to go on and on, Between the Lines, which generally feels like an authentic snapshot of a very specific time and place, builds towards an engaging third act that ultimately ensures it concludes on a memorable, satisfying note – with the end result a slightly erratic yet mostly above-average newspaper drama.

*** out of ****