Sharp-witted, taut dramatization of the prosecution (led by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) of the titular group of left-wing activists, most prominently Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), for conspiracy to incite rioting outside the 1968 Democratic Convention. As their adroit attorney (Mark Rylance) works to defend them in a courtroom presided over by a bizarrely biased judge (Frank Langella), the eighth defendant, Black Panther leader Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), protests the absence of his hospitalized lawyer while fissures emerge between Hoffman’s unkempt “Yippies” (also represented by Jeremy Strong) and Hayden’s jacket and tie-sporting Students for a Democratic Society (Alex Sharp plays his leading colleague and best friend). Writer-director Aaron Sorkin skillfully evokes the tensions of a troubled era and performances are uniformly impressive though some nonlethal mayhem and consistently vulgar dialogue make his film suitable only for grown-ups. Violent civic clashes with some gore, a nongraphic sexual assault, drug use, fleeting irreverence, about a dozen uses of profanity, a couple of milder oaths, pervasive rough and occasional crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
The Trial of the Chicago 7
