Worth (2021)

Worth is the rare 9/11 drama that finds its power not in spectacle, but in the quiet, bruising space where policy collides with grief—and it’s riveting because it treats that collision as a moral thriller. Michael Keaton gives a beautifully controlled performance as Kenneth Feinberg, a man who starts with spreadsheets and statutes and gradually confronts the impossible task of putting numbers on human loss, while Amy Ryan and Stanley Tucci bring warmth and steel that keep the film grounded in lived reality. Director Sara Colangelo’s restrained, compassionate approach lets the conversations do the heavy lifting, turning bureaucracy into something unexpectedly intimate, even profound. It isn’t designed to be an easy watch, but if you’re drawn to thoughtful, actor-driven dramas that respect your intelligence and your heart, this one lingers.

Worth is clearly trying to wrestle an impossible moral equation into something human, using the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund as a lens on grief, bureaucracy, and what fairness even means. The problem is it often packages that complexity into a familiar “hard-nosed professional learns empathy” template, so the emotional beats can feel pre-shaped rather than raw, and the meetings start to blur into repetitive variations of the same argument. If you’re looking for a tougher, more formally daring film that sits in the discomfort and hits like a gut punch, this may feel too tidy and talky for the subject. Still, Michael Keaton and Amy Ryan keep it grounded, and Stanley Tucci brings real dignity—so if you want a restrained, PG-13, process-driven drama with sincere intentions, it’s a solid, if safe, use of your time.