Michael Keaton’s Most Underrated Comedy Risks Being Forgotten, And That’s A Crime

Michael Keaton plays Henry Hackett in The Paper–the metro editor for The New York Sun, a stand-in for The New York Post.

Henry has pressure pushing on him from every direction. He’s scheduled for what he thinks is a secret interview at the more prestigious New York Sentinel , mostly for the sake of his pregnant wife Martha (Marisa Tomei).

At the same time, Henry struggles to beat out all the other papers on a major scoop–that two teenage boys accused of murder are innocent–while managing editor Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) strangles his budget.

Early in The Paper, two Black teenage boys happen upon a horrific murder scene, but their very presence makes them suspects when the cops show up.

While the rest of the New York Sun is content to paint the boys as guilty along with the rest of the city, Michael Keaton’s metro editor is convinced they’re innocent and wants to scoop all of the Sun’s competitors.

The catch is that in order to get his scoop, Henry needs to navigate the needs of his wife, the penny-pinching Alicia, and his upcoming interview all while hoping he can actually prove the boys’ innocence.

The Paper is full of the kinds of colorful characters you would expect in a film about a NYC paper, from a paranoid editor obsessed with his new therapeutic chair to a gun-toting op-ed writer who hides out in Henry’s office because he thinks the new traffic commissioner is trying to have him killed.

Editorial meeting scenes with Editor-In-Chief Bernie White (Robert Duvall) are always hilarious, filled with savage and dark humor.

In spite of all the laughs, The Paper also feels like a pressure cooker. Trying to achieve the impossible before the clock runs out, Henry comes off like a one-armed man juggling machetes, and you’re rooting for him every stressful step of the way.

The Paper‘s cast is one of its greatest strengths. Keaton is perfect as the under-the-gun Hackett, as is Tomei as a wife who understands her husband’s passion for the paper, but needs him to be a father first.

As Bernie, Duvall represents the inevitable result of the life Hackett is speeding towards–with no wife, estranged children, and little to show for it. Close is unapologetic and fierce as Alicia, and it’s a role she isn’t thanked for enough.

Other standout The Paper performances include Catherine O’Hara as a friend of Martha’s whose day-drinking rant terrifies the latter , and Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame who plays a disgraced and suddenly violent bureaucrat.

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In spite of critical acclaim and box office earnings of $48.4 million (which isn’t bad for a 1994 dramedy, and honestly wouldn’t be that bad for one today), The Paper has somehow managed to evade all the subscription streaming services.

However, along with physical releases available you can rent or buy The Paper at Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, AppleTV, or Vudu.