Review: Tabloid

Even without a skilled documentary-maker like Errol Morris behind the camera, the story at the centre of Tabloid would be strong enough to grip the viewer - as it tells the tale of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen accused of abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon Missionary along with umpteen twists further along the way.

Morris recognises that the material itself is more than enough to hold everyone's attention and sticks to simply letting those involved (apart from the object of McKinney's affection, Kirk Anderson) tell their side of the story, with the contrast of McKinney's crazy charisma against the various differing takes on how things really went down amongst the tabloid frenzy created is always engaging.

When the film veers away from the main tale of kinky sex onto McKinney's attempts to clone her dog in later life, the documentary does lose its way slightly, due to the lack of other protagonists and their input - all these different points of view is what makes Tabloid such an interesting documentary and Morris's skill in bringing them together makes for a gripping watch, with the added comment on the
nature of British newspaper journalism having extra relevance in light of the hacking scandals of recent times.