Matthew Shepard Story (2002)

The horrific and senseless murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old gay college student, in 1998 made headlines and was directly responsible for the inclusion of homosexuals in the hate crimes act eventually signed by President Obama in 2009. It's an important and heartbreaking story that deserves better than the by the numbers rendering given in this film. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode (DIE ANOTHER DAY), this film is awkward in its execution and indifferently acted (except for Sam Waterston and Kristen Thomson). The film starts with the end of Shepard's murder trial and provides flashbacks on his life and the events leading up to his murder. The flashbacks are shot with a grainy veneer as if Spottiswoode didn't trust us to realize these were flashbacks. The film also suffers from a poor performance by Shane Meier as Matthew. The Denver sequences, however, are quite strong and if only the film had given the movie more backbone and less sentiment, this could have been a powerful film rather than just another TV movie about a victim. With Stockard Channing as Shepard's mother.