Like so many recent issue-oriented historical dramas, this biography of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) seems built largely around making viewers feel good about what they already believe—but fortunately, it’s also fairly entertaining. The story tracks Trumbo’s life from around 1947, when he was flying high as Hollywood’s highest-paid screenwriter, through the 1950s, when his membership in the Communist Party made him a target of Congressional investigation, and eventually resulted him being blacklisted from being able to work in movies. A terrific cast is on board to play the high-profile figures of this era—Helen Mirren as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper; Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson; John Goodman as schlock producer Frank King—and there’s plenty of zing to the exchanges in John McNamara’s script. But Trumbo also gets bogged down in domestic drama, as Trumbo’s professional plight takes a toll on his relationship with his wife (Diane Lane) and oldest daughter (Elle Fanning). The blacklist was horrible because it destroyed families, we’re told, but the earnest finger-wagging at injustice proves far less satisfying than the behind-the-scenes showbiz tell-all. By Scott Renshaw