Bryan Cranston fails to save this bland biopic of a popular screenwriter…

Trumbo may not dig deep – for all its pleasures, the film doesn’t linger. But it does a fine job of picking up a remarkable real life story of an unlikely hero and telling it with a filmic aura it deserves.

Trumbo provides a snapshot of what was clearly a very dark time in Hollywood and American history, but it stays a bit thin on the ground.