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Parents' Guide to

Shattered Glass

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Journalistic scandal story best for older teens.

Movie PG-13 2003 90 minutes
Shattered Glass Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Star44
Star44 Parent of 14 and 15-year-old
September 7, 2022
age 17+

Not for Watching in School

This movie is not for watching in school. There's a lot of F'bombs, smoking, a suicide attempt, looks like prostitutes, and drinking. All of this is very casual. It looks like what teens should be expected to do at that age. I can see if parents watch this with their child it would be okay. This is not for watching in school.

This title has:

Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
Marissa N.
Marissa N. Adult
January 24, 2017
age 13+

Stephen Glass review

Stephen Glass is a great movie overall, It is about a charming young man who turns out to be quite a liar. His stories are amazing but they turn out to be not real, he faces some troubles along the way and digs himself in his lies even deeper. What i liked about it is that it is based on real life situations, what i don't like is that he lied so much. I highly recommend this movie, especially to journalist students.

This title has:

Great messages
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

SHATTERED GLASS is the story of one of the biggest scandals in the history of journalism. In 1998, the editor of the tiny but prestigious New Republic found that star writer Stephen Glass had fabricated dozens of stories. The publication's youngest writer, Glass (Hayden Christensen) dazzles everyone with charming compliments and self-deprecation. We know from the beginning that Glass lied, and the movie has enough respect for the complexity of human motivation not to try to explain why. So, it is a story of how the lie was uncovered, but it is less a detective story or even a rise-and-fall hubris tale than a story about how, in the end, journalism really is about telling the truth. An editor for a small, far-from-prestigious website tosses Glass's story about a teenage hacker to Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn), one of his reporters, asking why he didn't get that story himself. Penenberg begins to dig and finds out that only one fact in the Glass story checks out: "There does seem to be a state in the union named Nevada." Glass and Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard), his editor, find out what it is like to be under the microscope instead of peering through it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (2 ):

Christensen does a decent job, though we are never as charmed by Glass as his colleagues at The New Republic. Although the movie's introduction makes it clear that Glass is a liar, screenwriter/director Billy Ray (Hart's War) manages to keep us unsettled by not always letting us know what is real and what is imagined by Glass.

Maybe it is just being forewarned that makes Glass seem less ingratiating than just grating. Ray has a good feel for the culture and atmosphere of the community of Washington journalists -- overworked, underpaid, and a little too smart and inbred. There are splendid performances by Sarsgaard, Zahn, and especially Hank Azaria as the late Michael Kelly.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why Glass lied and why people wanted to believe him.

Movie Details

  • In theaters: October 30, 2003
  • On DVD or streaming: March 23, 2004
  • Cast: Chloe Sevigny , Hayden Christensen , Peter Sarsgaard
  • Director: Billy Ray
  • Inclusion Information: Female actors
  • Studio: Lionsgate
  • Genre: Drama
  • Run time: 90 minutes
  • MPAA rating: PG-13
  • MPAA explanation: language, sexual references and brief drug use
  • Last updated: April 1, 2023

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