Truth may be stranger than fiction, but fiction's often more entertaining. Could that be the motto of Stephen Glass, staff writer on American current affairs magazine The New Republic? In the 1990s, Glass was exposed as a conman who filed umpteen wild stories about teenage hackers and young Republican exploits without anyone rumbling that they were completely fabricated. In this nicely understated docu-drama, Hayden Christensen stars as the man who taught American journalism to read between the lies.

Set in the middle of Bill Clinton's second term, when sex scandals dominated the headlines and the president infamously lied to the nation, Shattered Glass is as much about an era as a man. Getting a job at the snootiest current affairs magazine in the country - "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One" - Glass realises that the best way to succeed in 90s America is by re-inventing himself as a brilliant reporter. So what if the truth suffers? It's self-image that counts.Trashing his hunky Jedi Knight image, Hayden Christensen takes this bespectacled geek from zero to hero. Working with a script that deliberately avoids explaining Glass' motivation, Christensen pulls off quite a feat. He makes this weasley, sexless nerd more likeable than any of the other white-collar stiffs employed at The New Republic (played by Chloë Sevigny, Peter Saarsgard and Melanie Lynskey). Dull, boring and unable to file anything other than yawn-inducing policy reviews, they're desperate for some of the audacity of Glass' stories to rub off on them.

"ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN FOR THE CLINTON ERA"

Meg Ryan doesn't deliver the knockout performance you'd hope for in Against The Ropes. Indeed her turn as feisty boxing manager Jackie Kallen is in keeping with a film that's fun for a while, but irredeemably lightweight. Making his big screen directorial debut, Charles S Dutton may be aiming for hard-hitting exposé, but he only scrapes the surface of this intriguing true-life tale.

Boxing is in her blood, yet by her mid-30s Jackie Kallen finds herself in a corner, playing PA to Irving Abel (Joe Cortese), the director of the Cleveland Coliseum. The job affords her proximity to the action but she's undervalued, and endures daily insults. Egged on by friend and sportscaster Gavin Reese (Tim Daly), she finally makes a stand and exchanges verbal blows with bigwig boxing promoter Sam LaRocca (Tony Shalhoub). When she questions his professionalism, he laughingly offers her ownership of a contract for the princely sum of one dollar.The joke becomes clear when Kallen drops in on her new signing, Devon Greene (Tory Kittles), a hopeless crack addict. However fate steps in, assuming the muscular form of Luther Shaw, charismatically played by Omar Epps. He's a debt collector for local drug lords and makes Greene cough it up in blood. But you know where this is headed...

"THE MOVIE LACKS ANY COMPLEXITY"