In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.
Blanchett gets the accent impeccably, and encompasses both the woman's determined heroism and her delight in the picture byline, but neither she nor the screenplay digs any deeper than secular hagiography.
– Trevor Johnston,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
While I was watching Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett, I kept imagining the movie it might have been before director Joel Schumacher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer got their hands on it.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
7 Aug 2004
rotten:
As movie material, Veronica Guerin's life could have benefited from the gutsy probing the woman herself was renowned for.
– Geoff Pevere,
Toronto Star,
22 Oct 2003
rotten:
You don't need subtlety for a movie like this -- which is fortunate considering that Schumacher is the director -- but you need a kind of craft that Schumacher doesn't possess.