The media tsk-tsking of Cronicas ought to be required viewing for anyone who thinks that Michael Isikoff should have left well enough alone. John Leguizamo, in perpetual and erratic motion, stars as Manolo Bonilla, a correspondent for a pan-Latin America newsmagazine show One Hour with the Truth. In Ecuador to cover the funeral of the latest victim of a child murderer dubbed “The Monster,” and to fume over his ongoing pissing contest with the show’s host (Alfred Molina, channeling Nicholson in Broadcast News, and good for him), Manolo saves Vinicio (Damian Alcazar), a schlubby hit-and-run driver, from a rabid mob and grants him a sympathetic TV interview when Vinicio promises him information on the Monster.
Umm, spoiler alert? Vinicio’s the Monster. (We find out in the first scene.) Manolo suspects, and wants to break the story himself, but because he’s a journalist, and thinks he’s God, he doesn’t cooperate with the cops. Cordero, displaying an affinity for the grandstanding condescension he seeks to condemn, employs a chorus of “average citizens” to fawn over Manolo for the sake of dramatic irony: “How does it feel to save a life?” I dunno, but wasting two hours of one sure sucks.
Opens July 8 at Angelika Film Center
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