HBO's Paterno is somber, quietly dramatic and ultimately depressing

The Washington Post

Al Pacino and Barry Levinson's third HBO collaboration about complicated and vein men -- following biopics on Jack Kevorkian and Phil Spector -- has Pacino in his most effective performance of the three films, says Hank Stuever. "Despite its resonance with the present-day zeal for revealing predators and supporting victims," he adds, "Paterno (premiering Saturday) offers almost none of the catharsis or thematic energy that comes with TV’s recent fixation on sensational cases and scandals; the film seems caught in a pause of uncertainty, as if constantly asking: 'Do we really have to go over this?'"

ALSO:

• Paterno has trouble finding drama in the Penn State sexual abuse scandal
• The script is a slightly confounding structural mess
• Levinson seems unsure if he wants to focus on Joe Paterno or Riley Keough's newspaper journalist Sara Ganim
• Al Pacino on playing Paterno: "I watched a lot of videos of him to get him right"