The Independent (2022)

Political thriller with no thrills. Nixon's evil plot was much better.

I'll guess it's 2024. An incredibly unpopular Democratic incumbant is
unlikely to win a second term. The Republican nominee is a female senator
with vaguely Trump follower ideas Patricia Turnbull (Ann Dowd). Then a
candidate appears from out of nowhere, Nate Sterling (John Cena), former
Olympic athlete (I guess track and field but they never made it clear
what he'd medalled in) and author.

Jodie Turner-Smith is an actress I don't recall. She was in the regular
cast of Jett, a series I watched but no longer remember. She was also on
the last season of The Last Ship, a show that had gotten so bad even I
was forced to stop watching.

She was born in England to Jamaican parents. She's got striking looks,
like those African models fashion photography in the 1960s used to
feature.

She was probably 35 or 36 during production and is playing 10 years
younger.

She plays a passionate journalist in a dying newspaper industry. It's
supposed to be the Washington Post. The paper is owned by a billionaire
who is cutting operational costs and forcing them to fire writers.

Thing is, she destroyed her reputation early in her career by writing
the story she wanted to be true instead of writing a true story based on
facts she'd uncovered. There ain't no way she'd have her present job.

She annoys the editor-in-chief (Stephen Lang) by proposing a story no one will
care about concerning mysterious cuts to public education in West
Virginia. Then she proposes a story based on what she's heard about the
indendent candidate Sterling, that there's suddenly money in his
campaign and he's able to hire a top campaign manager (which under
normal circumstances is impossible with months left before the general
election). Thing is, she's betrayed her boyfriend (Luke Kirby),
Sterling's traveling campaign aide and I guess advance man; it's not
clear what he does.

The story is immediately taken away from her and given to another
reporter. Nicholas Booker (Brian Cox), political columnist, gets pissed
and grabs her to work with him (without permission from the editor in
chief). He knows of her bad reputation but thinks she's got, er, spunk.

She starts investigating Tom Mayfield (Timothy Busfield), who runs a
multistate lottery whose top prizes are mysteriously not growing at the
same rate as competing lottery top prizes. She's able to do this
gambling modeling in her head. This is money supposed to go
to education, but she thinks it's being syphoned off for Turnball's
campaign.

She learns of a common accounting firm between the lottery and a PAC
supporting Turnball, which is why she's lept to the conclusion that the
monies are going to her campaign. She then steals work papers,
committing a felony. Booker is pissed but doesn't fire her, and she gets
to pursue the story.

Later in the movie, she gets the P.R. flak to steal work papers which
Booker approves of, as long as the reporter didn't commit the felony or
breach of ethics. Going through records, they flag a catering company's
expense reports as the code for the embezzled monies shifted around.

A catering delivery guy clues her in that they work for Sterling not
Turnbull and she realizes she's completely fucked up. At a campaign
event she sees Sterling surrounded by billionaires (including the guy wh
owns the catering company which seems like a difficult way to become a
billionaire), Mayfield, and the owner of her newspaper.

The editor in chief fires all the investigative journalists (as long
term investigations aren't profitable) and then fires her reporter rival
who has read her story. The editor has killed the hit piece about
Sterling to suck up to the owner! He got it wrong who was writing the
story.

She talks Booker into going independent with the story. The two just
decide to start their own news service not owned by billionaires with no
money and no business plan. The Sterling story is published and gets
picked up by the wires.

They are going to need massive amounts of money for criminal defense
attorneys because she keeps committing felonies.

This never got a distribution deal. Peacock picked up it, then Sky in
the UK in 2023, and was probably on tv worldwide never shown in
theaters. I borrowed a DVD from the library.

Don't bother, but Jodie Turner-Smith sure is pretty.