Review By Gabe Kaminsky

Sorkin’s third directorial movie is based on a group of leftist activists charged in 1969 for inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Abbie Hoffman was a leader in the “Flower Power” movement of the ’60s, and a drug dealer who would eventually hide from police after being charged for selling cocaine in 1974. Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the militant Black Panther Party, is characterized as a hero.

There are obvious implied messages in “The Trial of the Chicago 7” that detract from its entertainment value. Police are all “pigs” who supposedly attack the rioters first, Republicans are careless and abusive of shared freedoms, and hippies were moral citizens regardless of their frequent violent outbursts.

As Kyle Smith notes in National Review, “The combination of cutesy one-liners and Sorkin’s looming over everything like the giant head of Al Capone in the backdrop of the poster of The Untouchables tends to undercut the alleged drama.” Among the perpetual attempt to communicate aphorisms about the role of government and anachronistic depictions of the supposed righteousness of Hippie-culture in the face of public civility, the film becomes aggravating to watch.”