Good Night, And Good Luck Live Movie Review (2025)

Focusing on real-life broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and the conflict resulting from challenging anti-communist tactics, Good Night, and Good Luck is a slow burning revelation.

Many of you know that I work as a Chicago theater critic in my off hours. I have always been a play and musical enthusiast, so when I heard that Good Night, and Good Luck was going to be aired on CNN as the first live Broadway show ever televised, I set my DVR to record immediately. The melding of two of my great passions allowing me to watch a play from my own couch in my pajamas? Yes, thank you.

Good Night, and Good Luck is the story of the days surrounding the conflict between the press at CBS and the investigations trying to blacklist people for being communists – and more specifically, the direct conflict between broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow spoke his truth on the air, calling out some of the shady tactics used by interviewers to blacklist seemingly innocent people. His doing so led to unrest in the government as well as the population being split on who to believe.

The staging of the show is lovely, with four distinct areas of play. The band is at the top right, on a higher level of the stage and the train station is to its left. The lower level is two office and recording areas. Each of the four are lit when used without having to move much around between scenes.

The actors are excellent, with the main focus being George Clooney’s Edward R. Murrow. He is serious with a speedy and precise speech cadence that resembles the way the real Murrow spoke. There are moments of levity, though – particularly one where Clark Gregg’s Don Hollenbeck says, it’s “as if all the reasonable people took a plane to Europe and left us behind.” (Clooney moved to Italy years ago.)

Visually, the most remarkable choice is the use of real archival video used throughout the play. Some of it is aired as examples of what is going on during the Murrow show (to illustrate specific interviews to his viewers), and some of it is actual conversations between the character on stage and the person in the footage. The first time it happens, it piques your interest, but the more you watch, the more you are let into what the 1950s felt like.

There are some especially poignant speeches about the attacks on the media in this show, all of which are spoken by Murrow. They relate to our world today in ways that the 2005 movie (from which this play is based) probably couldn’t have seen coming.

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof. And that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine. And remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who fear to write, to speak, to associate, or to defend the causes that are for the moment unpopular.”

While this dramedy walks the line between earnest and comedic moments, the ending left me teary. The last video montage and comments by Murrow had me sitting in despondent silence for the few minutes after it ended. I am still processing now. And while I’ll admit that the show took me a little while to warm up to, the third act is something else. Watch it.

Runtime: 95 minutes

Motion Picture Rating: PG-13

Languages Spoken In The Film: English

Should You Watch It? Yes

Did I Cry? Yes, I got teary

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Available: It does not currently appear to be available to stream, but you can rent the 2005 film on Amazon Prime.