Drop everything you're doing and go see Good Night, and Good Luck.

Last evening at the Baxter Avenue Cinemas, a disappointed patron was overheard lamenting the sad fact that his Thanksgiving choice of a film proved to be “all special effects and no story.”

Not so for Mr. And Mrs. Confidential, who viewed George Clooney’s skillful and thought-provoking Good Night, and Good Luck, and considered going back for an immediate second helping.

Simply stated, it’s too bad all movies can’t be this good.

Clooney might have subtitled his second directorial effort “The High Price of Low Brow in a Purportedly Free Society.” As reviewers far and wide have accurately noted, the film is far more than a well-executed, black-and-while period piece depicting the crusading journalistic hero (Edward R. Murrow) against the drunken, red-baiting political villain (Joseph McCarthy).

Rather, the drama is profoundly sketched in shades of gray, asking many more questions than it attempts to answers, and boldly challenging the viewer to engage in discussion and contemplation entirely apart from gratuitous sex, gun battles, car chases, sci-fi fairy tales and other preferred modes of Hollywood mass-market entertainment.

Given the urgent contemporary relevance of Good Night, and Good Luck’s insightful explication of "Media 101: Entertainment vs. News," the film truly transcends the escapist fare crowding theater screens this holiday season, and deserves to be tagged a must-see.

Previously at NA Confidential:

George Clooney's “Good Night, and Good Luck” will lure NA Confidential to the multiplex.