Bryan Cranston is the main highlight of Trumbo, reviews reveal.

The movie which is something of a biopic of Dalton Trumbo, the famous Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted as a communist by the top brass in the film industry, and was part of The Hollywood Ten.

According to some critics the film is full of cliches but somehow Cranston and director Jay Roach somehow rescue it, while others appreciated the light-hearted streak to the film.

"A Hollywood screenwriter goes broke fighting for his principles. Sounds like a biopic slog, and sometimes it is. Luckily, Trumbo has a powerhouse Bryan Cranston to light a fire under the moldier clichés in John McNamara's script." -- Rolling Stone

"Problem is, the genius part is much more difficult to bring across, since it was specifically confined to the written word. In the end, director Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers) and screenwriter John McNamara have to settle for characters periodically announcing that Trumbo is brilliant, which produces an uncomfortable, unintended tension throughout the film. Should viewers judge based on what they can see, or on what's constantly being dictated to them? In a film that's so openly about shallow agendas and self-serving manipulation of public perception, that becomes a particularly troublesome question." -- A.V. Club

"The battle between Trumbo and McCarthyism is hardly a polarizing issue these days - there are few who would argue that the red panic-fueled political witch hunt that cost some of Hollywood's best and brightest their livelihoods (and sometimes their lives) is anything but a blight on American history. And yet the scenes leading up to Trumbo's time in front of the HCUAA, and his imprisonment for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the committee's questions feel too simplistic a battle between white and black knights to carry the weight of the drama that Trumbo aspires to be." -- Consequence of Sound

"Director Jay Roach nows a thing or three about entertaining audiences. He's directed Meet the Parents and the Austin Powers movies, but "Trumbo" is probably his best film, by virtue of association to the strongest ensemble he's worked with, and an exemplary script. The film becomes particularly good once we enter the blacklisted segment of Trumbo's career, when theatricality starts to take a backseat to a deeper insight into the egotistical and self-righteous side of this man." -- IndieWire 

Trumbo will hit theaters on Nov. 6.

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