Entertainment
7 Sketchiest Journalists in Film: From 'Never Been Kissed' to 'One Fine Day'
Movies have a tendency to exaggerate everything. In film, romance has the innate ability to pop up in the timeliest, but impossible moments, money never seems to run out even if the character is unemployed, everyone is unfairly gorgeous, and jobs are interesting and overflowing with perks. And as a journalist, I can't help but notice how journalists are portrayed in the movies — especially because journalists are far too often glamorized.
Between seducing the teacher while investigating undercover to spending thousands on shoes with just a weekly sex column, these movie journalists have me scratching my head. Am I missing something or are we in the land of complete make believe? Here are seven of our favorite movie journalists and their fairy-tale careers we can't help but question.
Image: Twentieth Century Fox
Andie Anderson in "How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
This is by far the ultimate journalism fairy tale. A beautiful journalist gets assigned a story to date a dashing man and break up with him in seven days. Not only is this her only assignment for the entire week, but she also gets to go on romantic dinners, hang out at basketball games, and attend a diamond gala in the process. While it seemed to all be part of the gig, this gig is pure myth. Even if a journalist got assigned a story like this, they would still have multiple other assignments to work on in the meantime.
Image: Paramount Pictures
Andrea Sachs in "The Devil Wears Prada"
In The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway plays Andrea Sachs, an ambitious young journalist fresh out of graduate school with stars in her eyes and grand hopes of completing cutting-edge journalism that changes the world. Instead, she gets hired as the assistant of Anna Wintour’s twin, Miranda Priestly, who is the evil Editor-in-Chief of Runway Magazine. While I am not at liberty to question the ridiculous requests Sachs gets on a daily basis, I can question the incredible makeover she is gifted with mid-film. Limited edition Chanel boots and designer gowns that fit her like a glove? Who are you kidding, Andrea?
Image: 20th Century Fox
Rita Skeeter in "Harry Potter"
We first meet Rita Skeeter in the fourth installment of the Harry Potter series when she interviews Harry Potter after his name is pulled from the Goblet of Fire to compete. She gets the facts wrong, manipulates him with her leading questions, and misquotes him in her notes — all serious issues according to any Reporting 101 professor. If only we had one of those magical quills to take notes for us during interviews. Sigh, we have to do all the work ourselves.
Image: Warner Bros.
Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City"
Carrie Bradshaw has been getting journalists’ hopes up on Sex and the City since its debut in the ’90s. A sex columnist who can afford a spacious apartment in Manhattan, a new pair of Manolo Blahniks weekly, and handsome gentlemen callers regularly sounds like a delusion rather than real life reporting.
Image: HBO
William Miller in "Almost Famous"
In Almost Famous, Miller is assigned by a Rolling Stone editor to tour with a rock band, despite the fact that he is underage and the editor has never met Miller in person. Today, this simply would never have happened. Not only would the first round of interviews have stopped this teen right in his tracks, but with the amount of security that exists these days, he would not have made it backstage anywhere without a press pass.
Image: Columbia Pictures
Jack Taylor in "One Fine Day"
It was a rude awakening to discover that journalism doesn’t exactly play out like it does in One Fine Day. George Clooney plays Jack Taylor, a quick-talking reporter who spends the entire film chasing his sources, his daughter, and a new love interest through New York City to break a story about political fraud. In this technological age, most journalists would never spend time running through New York on a wild goose chase when they can monitor Twitter feeds and track their source’s location via their latest Facebook status.
Image: 20th Century Fox
Josie Geller in "Never Been Kissed"
In Never Been Kissed, Drew Barrymore plays copy editor Josie Geller who gets her first big shot at reporting for the newspaper as an undercover high school student. In the process, her editor urges her to seduce her dreamy professor to get the story. Um, can we say major ethical no-no?Image: 20th Century Fox
