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Trumbo

Play trailer 2:31 Poster for Trumbo R Released Nov 6, 2015 2h 4m Biography History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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74% Tomatometer 206 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
In 1947, successful screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) and other Hollywood figures get blacklisted for their political beliefs.
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Trumbo

Trumbo

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Critics Consensus

Trumbo serves as an honorable and well-acted tribute to a brilliant writer's principled stand, even if it doesn't quite achieve the greatness of its subject's own classic screenplays.

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Critics Reviews

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Dwight Brown National Newspaper Publishers Association Revealing. Fascinating. Entertaining. Mar 7, 2017 Full Review Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com Trumbo is a solid effort made close to unmissable thanks in large part to Cranston's magnificence, the resulting biopic a gripping return to a Hollywood of yesteryear where the themes being examined couldn't be more appropriately timely. Rated: 3/4 Aug 22, 2016 Full Review Udita Jhunjhunwala Scroll.in Credit must go to Cranston for giving this lean film some heft. Jun 21, 2016 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies I can’t help but think a more truthful telling would have resulted in a better and more compelling drama. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 27, 2022 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Ultimately the story of an underdog besting a bully, and who doesn't love stories like that? Rated: 3/4 Apr 25, 2022 Full Review Olly Richards NME (New Musical Express) Bryan Cranston makes the tricky leap from television to the big screen in style. Rated: 4/5 Jun 8, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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thiago s Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom, só a atuação do Brian Cranston Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/11/25 Full Review Divyansh U. Good one time watch and that’s all there is to it. Bryan Cranston is his usual best. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/22/25 Full Review Dane B. M Absolutely spellbinding. I watched not knowing who this man was. I watched knowing every film he wrote. I watched with a new respect for him and all he stood for. Dalton Trumbo was a hero. I'm an actor. I can only imagine the difficulties he went through. I also never knew Hedda Hopper was so witchy. She saw herself as a kind of cultural soldier. Her views were rooted in far-right nationalism, Christian fundamentalism, and moral panic. She often collaborated with groups like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and cheered on HUAC's witch hunts. The blacklist crumbled. Trumbo outlived the blacklist—and Hedda Hopper. He died in 1976; she in 1966. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/19/25 Full Review Adam Y Trumbo should serve as a warning that history can repeat itself, and our freedom of speech is always in jeopardy. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/09/25 Full Review Mike G Only Crantson could move so easily from a dentist in Seinfeld to a mastermind in Breaking Bad to a sympathetic character in Trumbo. Truly one of the great actors of this early century. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/22/25 Full Review Allan C During the Joseph McCarthy Communist Witch Hunts, the senator set his sights on Hollywood, rooting out communist sympathizers, requiring anyone with past communist ties to “name names” or get blacklisted. TRUMBO tells the story of famed Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (the writer of A GUY NAMED JOE, THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, ROMAN HOLIDAY, SPARTACUS) who took the principled stand of freedom of speech and the right to dissent by refusing to cooperate with the McCarthy hearings and consequently found himself blacklisted. For anyone familiar with Trumbo’s story, there’s no surprise in the arc of the film, but what was interesting and new was the impact of the blacklist on his family, finding themselves forced to sell their home, ostracized by their neighbors, and yet all the while being unfailingly loyal to Trumbo’s stance. Bryan Cranston is commanding as Trumbo, delivering what seems impossibly clever dialogue, but also seems plausible given he’s an East Coast intellectual whose job was to write impossibly smart dialogue. I already knew that Trumbo and other blacklisted writers continued to work in Hollywood while on the blacklist, using non-blacklisted writers to front for them and share the profits, as well as writing for low-budget disreputable studies who knew their viewers didn’t care about the blacklist, but it was fascinating to see the machinations of how they sold the scripts in this environment. I also learned from this movie that Trumbo wrote under a pseudonym the classic low-budget film noir, GUN CRAZY. Diane Lane is fine in an understated role as Trumbo’s supportive wife, though it’s Elle Fanning as Trumbo’s headstrong daughter who stands out among the many fine supporting actors, who include Alan Tudyk, John Goodman, Louis C.K., Stephen Root, Richard Portnow, and Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper. While I greatly enjoyed TRUMBO, I don’t know if it’s a movie for everyone, as I’m pretty sure my love of film history biased me toward enjoying this film. I do think the film has crossover film appear for non-film-nerd audiences who are interested in stories of dissent, principled stands, and the importance of democracy and freedom of speech, but overall it’s the performances by Cranston, Lane, Fanning, and the rest of the supporting cast who carry the day.  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/21/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Trumbo

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1947, successful screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) and other Hollywood figures get blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director
Jay Roach
Producer
Michael London, Janice Williams, Shivani Rawat, Monica Levinson, Nimitt Mankad, John McNamara, Kevin Kelly Brown
Screenwriter
John McNamara
Distributor
Bleecker Street Media
Production Co
Groundswell Productions
Rating
R (Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre
Biography, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 6, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
May 17, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$7.9M
Runtime
2h 4m
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