Penn State football gains the attention of the country for all of the wrong reasons. Long term football coach, Joe Paterno (Al Pacino), finds himself caught up in the mess. It was reported that former defensive line coach, Jerry Sandusky, had abused, assaulted, and raped children while on the staff. Further details revealed that several of these instances were reported to others, but not taken seriously. Such denial of reports created a shit storm that brought several people into the mix, Paterno included.

Paterno is an HBO movie documenting the sexual abuse scandal that rocked Penn State, from Joe Paterno’s perspective. We would assume that the majority of the people know the basis of the story, so we’ll do a brief overview. Former defensive line coach Jerry Sandusky was accused of sexual abuse, assault, and the rape of children at Penn State, during his time there. It was reported that in one instance, a graduate assistant witnessed Sandusky raping a child and reported to Joe Paterno. Paterno claims that he reported the incident to the proper people. Regardless of what truly happened, one this is for certain, it was not handled correctly. Unfortunately, such missteps lead to Sandusky being able to get a hold of many more victims.

The movie did a great job of not ‘Hollywood-ing’ the story. This adds to the allure of the movie. You’re not shaking your head in disbelief. Every detail is presented with the truth behind it. Clearly, Paterno is the focus of the story. However, there was a nice incorporation of several different perspectives throughout the story. The next most important perspective would come from Sara Ganim (Riley Keough), the reporter who first broke the story. Although the movie was well done, there were parts that were dull. So much so that you feel yourself wanting more, more stories, rumors, details, something other than Paterno sitting in his damn living room.

The acting across the board was good. No one really stood out, other than Al Pacino’s portrayal of Joe Paterno. Most of the role must not have been hard to play, sitting and chatting, chatting and sitting. However, there were small parts of the role that made it stand out. Pacino’s tweaked his voice just enough to sound like Paterno. An additional layer that helped Pacino pull off the Paterno role was his makeup and outfits. Based on the movie, we’re not sure if a day went by where Paterno didn’t wear Penn State clothing.

Paterno does a great job documenting the story that rocked Penn State and the rest of the country. Adding perspectives outside of Sandusky’s gives us a look into the many layers of such a scandal. Although they stuck to the truth, there were parts of the movie that were dull. Not a bad watch, but not a great one either.

Rating: Limp Dick!