I struggled to stay focused while watching this drab monotone film. I mucked my way through it wondering what would have happened if someone turned on a light or a tie-dyed hippie wandered on set.

The flick is about the journalistic investigation of the Boston Strangler case back in the ’60s. A pair of female reporters are trying to uncover the facts while dealing with the cops, the system, and harassment.

The film is well acted and presumably well documented… and I kind of liked its take on a film noire where everyone and everything is corrupt. No gumshoes, no dames… just darkness.

But I think they went overboard. The film is so noire that it becomes a sullen chore. The subject matter asks for a dark film to be sure, but maybe add some spark or vary the tone or God Forbid a tie-dyed hippie. Give me something more than shot after shot of this grey monotone.

Kudos to not including a fictional shootout, I suppose. But what remains is mind-numbing. Their dedication to a bleak world was overkill.

Score: 72